


Bubblegum and Lemonade

by KitKatNinja



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cutesy, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 09:29:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4601679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitKatNinja/pseuds/KitKatNinja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the bar Love and Lucky, Natsu Dragneel works his best to keep the bar running, going to college and practicing his martial arts for competitions. He finds it boring as he goes through life the same old ways. Would it kill him for some excitement?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Love and Lucky

It was a fairly busy Thursday night at the bar Love and Lucky, and only one bartender working the shift. He shuffled behind the bar, mixing drinks and sliding them down to customers. Each nodded a thanks as their drinks reached their hands. Some customers put a few dollars in his tip jar as he threw the shaker behind his back and caught it. Drinks and a show. As he finished up his latest drink, he blow at his hair that was hanging in his face. His hair was a spikey mess, but he liked it, everyone knew him for it.

“Salamander, scotch on the rocks please!”

He turned with a wide grin to the voice requesting the drink, and quickly assembled the drink. It had to be one of his regulars, since they didn’t use his name on his tag. He peered through the dim lights to see a familiar smile from an older gentleman.

“George, it’s nice to see you back from vacation.”

George smiled, taking the drink from 'Salamander's' hand and took a small drink. The man had an uncanny ability to remember the little things about his regulars but it always made everyone happy that someone had cared enough to remember.

“Ah yes, it’s good to be back as well.”

“What did you end up doing?”

Salamander leaned against the counter, cleaning out a glass as he listened to the old man. He always liked hearing the stories of everyone who came in here, and George had been gone for well over a month. The old man needed the well-deserved vacation from what he had heard. He works as a lawyer and on his off days he goes and teaches to the college he goes to.

“The wife and I ended up going out to Minstrel. They had the best weather the entire time we were there, thank gods. Lots of fine dining and lots of drinking. But I missed this bar. It’s not the same anywhere else.”

He took another drink, and saw Salamander grinning at his statement and he nodded in approval.

“You can thank the great Salamander for that! I’m glad you had fun, but it’s always nice to see a familiar face once again in the bar.”

A voice rang out from the other side of the counter and he saluted to George as he slid down to the customer. He chuckled and held his drink up in acknowledgement. What he had said was true, if it weren’t for him this bar wouldn’t even be open. Before he started working here, there were only 2-3 customers a night, sometimes hardly even one. But he brought excitement, cared for each person that came through his doors and sat at his counter top. Word spread quickly of the great service that the bar had and it finally gained the popularity it deserved.

“He’s pretty popular, huh?”

George turned his head to the voice and noticed a girl about Salamander's age watching the man mix up another drink for the customer who called for him. George just grunted in response, sipping slowly on his scotch. He watched the girl carefully. Salamander almost always seemed to have problems with the college girls around here, each calling herself his fangirl and such. The girl sat there watching the pinkette flit back and forth between customers, running a hand through her long blonde hair. George turned forward, not particularly worried about the girl anymore. He finished up his drink and called out to Salamander, and he came right over to George, a small pout on his face.

“Finished so soon? I wanted to hear more about your trip!”

George just chuckled and slid out of his chair, dusting his pants off as he readied to leave.

“You have your hands full today. I’ll have to tell you another time.”

He crossed her arms and rolled his eyes at the old man, noticing the college girl sitting next to him.

“A friend of yours George?”

He laughed, turning on his heel to head out. A college girl his friend? Oh he was quite the funny person.

“Nah, but I’ll see you later Salamander, and stay out of trouble!”

He laughed loudly, and the college girl looked up, startled to hear such a loud laugh from the boy.

“Trouble is my middle name George! I’ll see you later.”

He grabbed his glass and took it to the sink to be cleaned, while the girl followed him with chocolate brown eyes. He was quite the interesting person with bubblegum pink hair, dark eyes and a loud laugh. She went to a closer chair to him and stared at him while he cleaned some glasses. He did this thing with his tongue, the soft pink flesh sticking slightly out of the side of his mouth as he scrubbed on the glasses, concentrating quite a lot. 

"Any chance I could get a drink?"

The boy looked up from his dish washing and looked to the girl, a grin on his face. He wiped his hands on the rag hanging out of his pants pocket.

"Yeah! What would you like?"

"Lemonade please."

The boy stared at the girl for a moment, confused as to why she would get a non-alcoholic drink at a bar, but business was business. 

"Coming right up!"

The girl smiled softly, staring at his name tag before he left to make her drink. She didn't understand why everyone was calling him 'Salamander'. His real name was nowhere near Salamander. She sighed, twirling a stray strand of hair around her finger. He probably thought she was weird to be getting a lemonade, but she needed an excuse to talk to him up at the bar. She and alcohol weren't exactly the best of friends. 

"One lemonade for the weirdo!"

Her eye twitched, and she faked a smile at him, taking the tall glass from him. Of course, getting a lemonade would make her a weirdo.

"I'm not a weirdo thank you very much, I just have an exam to study for later tonight."

Perfect excuse for a college girl! She grinned on the inside, proud of her white lie. The boy nodded, clearly believing her story without much thought to it. 

"Well that makes sense! Why come here though?"

He stared at the blonde, looking over her face as she sipped on the lemonade. She was pretty, and normally pretty girls don't come to Love and Lucky. He watched as she shrugged her slim shoulders and her lips pursed in thought. 

"I heard it was a nice place, but I noticed no one else really going in. Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to see why no one was here."

The pinkette nodded, and looked around the bar. He did notice that there were only older gentlemen here, not the college crowd she was thinking would be here. He didn't mind it though, no one came in to bother him for free drinks.

"Anyway, why is everyone calling you Salamander. Your name is Natsu, right?"

He grins at her, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. It was a habit a lot of the regular got into after they saw him take a flaming shot, and then proceed to breathe fire. She would probably think it was a weird story, so he would keep the explanation short and sweet.  

"I'm a pyro, and the regulars here see that quite often when I'm working so the name kinda just happened."

She stared at him, clearly not understanding why still but she shrugged it off, accepting the reason. 

"I like Natsu though, it suits you a lot better."

He tilts his head at her, confused to why she thinks that. 

"And you think that why?"

"Your hair, it reminds me of summer." 

His face flushes, and he coughs, looking away from her. She definitely was a weirdo.

"R-right. Summer."

She chuckles, and his chest aches. A chuckle shouldn't sound that adorable coming from a weirdo. 

"Anyway, hurry up with your drink, we actually close pretty soon. It is only Thursday."

Her eyes widened and she looks at her phone for the time and curses under her breath, taking the glass and chugs it quickly. She sighs in content, licking her lips to get the slightly sour taste off her lips. She places slides the amount she owes to him and stands up, grabbing her phone off the counter. 

"Sorry for keeping you, and thanks for the lemonade!"

He watches as she turns quickly and heads out the doors before he could even ask her name. He sighs, grabbing her cup before he notices a note tucked on the bottom of the cup. He grabs it and unfolds it, reading it and he scoffs, tucking it into his pocket. 

~Thanks for the lemonade! Is your hair bubblegum pink or rose pink? I'm thinking of getting that color in highlights.~

"It's all natural, lemonade girl. Freaking weirdo."


	2. Latte Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because in college you need all the caffeine you can get.

As Natsu finished closing up the bar, his mind wandered to the lemonade girl. He was unsure as to how he hadn't seen her at school. Someone that pretty is hard to forget. Maybe she was an upperclassman? With a sigh, he ran a hand through his hair, noting how long it has gotten and thought he should be getting a haircut soon. He'll have to look around campus for her, then he could ask her. He shuffled to the door, grabbing his scarf out of the office before leaving. It was a dumb rule for him to not have his scarf on while he was working, but rules were rules.

"I should get back to the room, Happy's probably hungry."

He wrapped the scarf around his neck, shoving his nose into the soft fabric. It was a little chilly for a summer night, but it was a nice change from the crazy heat from the mornings. As he walked back to his dorm room, his normally smiling face turned darker, a deep frown appearing instead. He had his final exams coming up in the next few days, and he also had a competition in MMA* coming up next week. He sighed, for the umpteenth time tonight, and looked up to the night sky. It was getting frustrating, going through the same routine. He was required to do MMA because he got a scholarship for it, and he had to keep his grades up, which was hard. Classes bored him, he couldn't really pay any attention in them much anymore and gods did it suck. He didn't even know what he wanted to do with his life yet.

"Flame brain, what took you so long tonight?"

Natsu's eyebrow twitched, and he looked up with a scowl to the voice. He knew that annoying voice like no other.

"None of your business, ice princess. Now piss off, I have to study."

The other boy laughed, throwing an arm around Natsu's shoulder.

"You and studying? That's hilarious!"

Natsu just shrugged the arm off his shoulder, getting pissed by each second. He wasn't in the mood for a fight, and he knew he could beat up the guy easily.

"Go away Gray, I seriously do have to study."

Gray stepped aside, shocked at the pinkette. Normally he'd be in a mood to fight or something.

"And for god’s sake, put your clothes back on."

Gray flinched, searching around for his clothes and before he even had all his clothes back on Natsu was nowhere around.

\--- Next Morning ---

Classes would be starting soon and Natsu forced himself to get up from the warm bed, over exaggerating his yawn. He needed something to wake himself up, and he looked around his room. He ran out of his energy drinks a while ago. He always forgot to get more after work. He slowly got himself out of bed and dressed, draping his scarf around his neck and he smiled softly. He was never without it, since it was from someone pretty important in his life. A small meow came from under his blankets and he laughed, pulling them back so the animal could move freely.

"I'll be back later tonight Happy, just behave."

He heard a small meow as he exited his room, quickly dodging everyone coming out of their dorms. He needed to get out before he saw Gray again, he was itching for a fight today and he knew he'd be late if he saw Gray. As he reached the exit, he heard someone yell his name out, and he cursed under his breath. He turned and his eyes widened in fear. His neighbor, a man with way too many piercings to count, was holding up some clothing that was nearly shredded to pieces.

"Your damn cat did this to my clothes!"

Natsu frowned, his hands crossed tight against his chest as he watched the pierced man come closer, anger fuming off of him in waves and Natsu gulped. He lied about wanting to fight. Right now seemed like a good time to get that caffeine.

"There's no way that Happy did that! He never goes out of my room!”

“Like hell he doesn’t! Who else would have done this to my shit?”

Natsu stepped back slowly, feeling the coolness of the metal door behind him.

“Maybe it’s your girlfriend’s stupid cat! She’s always over with that thing.”

And with that, Natsu pushed himself through the doors and out into the cool morning air, turning on his heel and running towards to the nearest coffee shop he could recall. As he could see the small sign, he slowed his run, sneaking a glance behind him to see if the terrifying metal man was behind him. The breath he didn’t know he was holding released into a long sigh as he neared the door to the shop. What was he even doing, going to drink coffee? It never did anything for him, he always just got sleepier from drinking the damn thing!

“Welcome to Latte Trouble!"

He looked towards the peppy voice, spotting somewhat curly blue hair hiding behind a band on her head. He recognized that hair just about anywhere and he grinned. So this was where she worked her other job at. 

"Hey Levy!"

Levy was smiling at him, her hand held up in a wave. It wasn't very busy yet at the cafe and she was mindlessly cleaning something. He wondered why she needed to work two jobs and go to school. She got a full ride scholarship, because she's practically a genius. So why the need for so much money? 

"Hi Natsu! Strange to see you here. You don't normally drink coffee. Actually you don't really drink it ever." 

He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck. She wasn't lying, but he was desperate for some caffeine in his system. He was still exhausted from working late last night. 

"Yeah, but I ran out of my energy drinks. Do you have anything that won't taste like shit or put me to sleep?" 

Levy thinks for a few seconds, tapping her chin in thought. She knew Natsu fairly well, and almost every drink here was something he wasn't going to like. An idea sparked and she smacked the counter top loudly in triumph with the palm of her hand. Natsu jumped in surprise, staring at the petite bluenette. She should stop hanging out with Gajeel so often, he was rubbing off on her way too much. 

"I have the perfect drink! Just go sit down, and I'll make it for you."

Natsu nods, slinking away from the excited barista. He knew better than to question what she was going to do, but he knew he could trust her decisions as well. As the minutes pass by, he stares out the window of the shop, noticing the leaves of the trees nearby turning as the season was coming to an end. He didn't mind it though, it finally gave him the proper excuse to be wearing his scarf around without question. As he continued staring out the window, he saw a familiar head of blonde hair. But before he could even think about doing anything, a to-go latte cup was practically slammed down in front of him on the tabletop and he jumped in surprise. He could smell something that reminded him of Christmas. 

"What the hell is this?"

He turns to the small girl, a frown on his face as he sniffs at the hot drink in front of him, but she just continues to grin at him. 

"One of my friends who works here makes this! It's basically her specialty. I hope I got it right."

He just stares at her, unsure if it really was okay to drink now. Slowly he held the cup in his hands, feeling the warmth flood into his hands. He took a careful sip of the liquid, his eyes widening in shock. It wasn't very sweet, but he couldn't catch the horrible burnt taste of the coffee he normally tasted. He took another sip, thinking about the weird flavor he kept tasting. 

"It's peppermint and vanilla. She calls it the Celestial Latte!"

He keeps drinking, enjoying the semi-sweet drink. It has a slight kick, he guessed it was from the peppermint, and it was definitely waking him up. He finished the drink quickly, wanting more of the drink but he checked the time on his phone. 

"Ah shit! I gotta get to class! Thanks again Levy!" 

He rushed to the counter, slapping a 10 on the counter for the drink as he ran out the door. He heard a 'see ya Natsu' as he ran out, almost running into a blonde girl on his way out and he mumbled a sorry as he rushed past. 

"Bye Natsu." 

He glanced back after hearing his name but she was already inside and he ignored it. Maybe it was just Levy he had heard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *MMA stands for mixed martial arts. which is basically what it sounds like.
> 
> Thanks for the favorites and such! I'll update every week, but I have to figure out a set date for when I will. Expect this to be at least 20 chapters~
> 
> Reviews would be great! Thanks for reading~


	3. Runaway Pet

School sucked. He had a final that day, which he thought wasn't till the end of the week and on top of that he fell asleep in his lecture class, again. Honestly, it wasn't his fault the professor’s voice just lulled him straight to sleep. The man could drone on and on about whatever it was this class was about. He really should pay attention to it, but it was honestly really boring. Natsu stifled a yawn as he was walking back to his dorm. He needed some sleep before he had to work tonight. As he thought about what he wanted to eat, he saw a flash of blue fur run in front of him. It took him a few seconds to register the fact that it was his own cat that had run across the school yard.

"Ah fuck. You have to be kidding me."

He rushed after his cat, hoping he could catch up to the damned thing. It wasn't the first time he's escaped, but one of his friends always ends up bringing Happy back to him. It looked like none of his friends would be able to help him out this time though.

"Happy! Come on buddy quit doing this!"

The cat just meowed, running underneath a set of parked cars and disappeared out of sight. Natsu stopped running, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he took a breather. That damned cat made him run all over the school, and now he only had 30 minutes before he needed to go to work. With a frustrated groan, Natsu trudged back to his room. He had given up on chasing Happy; the cat would show up sooner or later.

When he reached his room, he noticed that he hadn't done his laundry in god knows how long. His uniform reeked of alcohol and he huffed in annoyance. He really couldn't understand why he needed to wear a stupid black vest. Any other bar he went to they all wore what they wanted.

He sifted through his clothes and found some that smelled the best. He slipped on a white button up shirt and tucked it into his black slacks. He would put his vest on at work; he learned the first time around to not walk in full uniform because he kept getting stares. I mean he did look like he was going to a wedding of sorts.

He took a glance at his hair in the mirror of his bathroom and nodded in approval. He didn't mind the messy hair he was sporting tonight, and with a quick spritz of cologne he left his room in a rush. He had maybe 15 minutes to get to the bar and open it. He could ask one of his friends to bring him some dinner since he couldn't get some.

"Hey Salamander! It's about time you got here!"

Natsu grunted in reply as he unlocked the doors to the bar. He had to sprint there as the bar was on the other side of the campus and it normally took a 20 minute walk to get there.

"Just give me a few minutes guys and I'll get you your drinks."

"Don't worry, we can wait. Take your time."

Natsu was grateful he had such understanding regulars. If he didn't he woulda been in one hell of a shit hole. He quickly turned on all the lights and grabbed clean shakers, making sure his ice was actually stocked as well. He couldn't remember if he did it at all last night.

After finishing up with his last second prepping, he went to making the few customers there their drinks. Friday nights always started slow, but he'll eventually get the stupid rush or his friends would come in and harass him for free drinks…. which he would gladly say 'screw you' to.

"Salamander! Why the sad look?"

He looked up to see George sitting in front of him, an older woman beside him as well.

"Ah, my cat decided to run away again. I wasn't able to catch him this time."

George laughs, patting his wife's leg as he calms with the laughing.

"Well this is my wife, Trisha. She wanted to thank you for putting up with me while I'm here."

Trisha smiles gently and her eyes crinkle at the edges. She has peppered hair curled elegantly to her shoulders, and she dawned a simple black dress fit for her age.

"You wouldn't believe how much trouble he was on vacation! Every bar he went to he complained about the drinks not tasting the same. You've kept him a loyal customer Natsu."

Natsu blushes at the compliment from the older woman, and he rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"Eh, I'm just doing my job ma'am."

"Speaking of job! Scotch on the rocks for me! And a gin and tonic for the lady."

Natsu nods at the gentleman, grabbing glasses and a shaker for the drinks. It takes him no time at all to have the drinks in front of them.

"Thank you Natsu."

"Of course ma'am! You two enjoy."

Natsu watches as they go back and talk to each other about how their day was and he smiles softly. Eventually, he wouldn't mind that. Being able to talk so easily with someone you cared a lot about. He'd need to find someone first.

Hours drone by, and he finally has another person come in to help him tonight. He couldn't remember the guys name, he was only recently hired, but he never really had the chance to talk to him anyway. The guy was always running drinks to tables, while Natsu had the fun at the counter. Seniority gets him the benefits. Around 8 o'clock is when he gets the rush of people ready to get their drink on for the weekend, and he handles it all too well. Tricks around this time are great to do, people are more generous with their tipping when there're more people and everyone is a little tipsy.

The little rush lasts about 3 hours, and after serving well over 50 shots, he takes a breather at the counter. He wipes away some of the spills he can see and tops off some beer. It seemed like it was going to be slow now after everyone had gotten a buzz going. He saw a head of blonde hair make its way to the empty chair at the other side of the bar top and he notices she looks very familiar.

"Bubblegum!"

His eye twitches in annoyance. Bubblegum? Why couldn't she have used the name 'Salamander' or ‘Natsu’? But bubblegum? He stomps over to her, an angry pout on his face.

"Really? Bubblegum? Why couldn't you have been more creative?"

She snickers at him, a hand covering her mouth as to be somewhat polite.

"Well your hair looks bubblegum pink!"

He frowns at her comment, and crosses his arms tight against his chest.

"It's salmon, not pink!"

She waves it off, tucking a hair behind her ear. He didn't realize just how long her hair actually was, it seemed to never end.

"What're you doing here today? Thought you would have been bored with this place."

She shrugs, a finger on her chin as she thinks.

"It's not all that bad really. Just needs some more people."

He looks around the bar, thinking what he has already was a lot of people.

"Well you gonna get a drink or what?"

"Lemonade."

He deadpans, staring at her blankly.

"It's a Friday night and you're getting a lemonade?"

"It was a good lemonade!"

He rolls his eyes at her pout, grabbing a tall glass for the lemonade. Only weirdos get lemonade at a bar. Actually, only weirdos get lemonade in general.

"Lemonade for the weirdo."

She snatches the glass from him, taking the straw into her mouth with a pout.

"I'm not a weirdo thank you very much! Anyway, why did you have such a long face earlier?"

He stares at her blankly.

"Long.. Face? Why would my face be long?!"

She coughs, her lemonade burning her nose as she chokes on it. He stares at her, offering her a napkin as she continues to cough.

"H-how did you not know what I meant?"

He shrugs and watched as she recomposes herself, patting her mouth dry.

"It's a figure of speech, like why were you sad?"

He looks away, grabbing a glass to absently dry. It wasn't a big deal, his cat always ran away.

"Nothing, really. My cat just ran off again."

"Ah! You have a cat? That's so cute! What kind of cat?"

Natsu taps his chin in thought, there really wasn't an easy way of explaining what Happy was. He was just a cat.

"Well his name is Happy. He likes fish and apparently running away."

She laughs at his description of the cat as she finishes up with her lemonade.

"You know, I found a cat running around my apartment building today. He didn't seem lost though, but I put him in my room just in case."

Natsu perks up at the possibility that it's Happy, and he starts grinning.

"What he look like? Did he have a green collar on? Was he eating fish? Did you give him fish?"

Lucy holds her hands up, a small chuckle bubbling out of her mouth as she was bombarded with questions from the pinkette.

"Whoa, just wait a second. He did have a green collar on, but this cat was a weird blue color."

Natsu grinned more, if it was even possible. So someone he knew had found his cat.

"Yeah! Green collar is him!"

"Does the fact that I say blue even faze you?"

"Blue?"

"Yeah. This cat is a blue colored cat."

Natsu just shrugs. Blue wasn't that weird of a color was it? There's a dog that's blue, isn't there?

"Not really."

The blonde sighs, giving up on trying to find reason with the man and she finishes up her lemonade.

"Well did you want to get your cat? I don't exactly have cat litter and such to take care of it."

Natsu looks towards the clock on wall opposite of them. He gets off in a little bit and he's already helped with the rush for the night. He was fairly certain the new kid could handle the rest of it on his own. His cat was more important than staying at work all night.

"I'm off right now. I already helped enough for tonight."

The girl grins, and she gets up from her seat.

"Well let's go get your cat!"

"Yosh! Let's go!"

The two leave the bar fairly quickly; the walk to the apartment took little to no time at all since she lived only a few blocks from the bar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading! Again, I hope you enjoyed. Should I make the chapters longer? Or keep them at this length? Feedback is always great!


	4. It's Lucy, not Luigi!

How far away is it already?"

Natsu whined, dragging his feet as he followed the blonde to her apartment. He didn't think it would be that long of a walk from the bar to her place. He really wanted to see Happy, but if it was this much of a hassle he should have just told her to let him go. The cat would find his way back home eventually, if not a week later, then maybe 2. Right now he really just wanted to go home.

"We've only been walking for 5 minutes Natsu. It's really not that far."

"It's been forever! Your apartment is so far away!"

"Natsu, it's only 3 blocks away."

"Yeah, 3 blocks too far."

She rolled her eyes at his complaints, and he stuck his tongue out at her. If she was going to be snarky, so was he. It was only fair after all.

"Look, you can see it right there."

Natsu followed her pointed finger, spotting a yellow building. It looked pretty, and it definitely suited the blonde he was walking with. Come to think of it, had he even asked for her name? He called her lemonade girl, or weirdo. It never really fazed him to ask for her real name.

"What's your name weirdo?"

He watched as she turned to look at him, her face looked like it was twisted in a weird way. Did he say something wrong? She was looking really funny right now, like she could throw up and scream at the same time.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I never did tell you my name!"

He snickers at her face, watching as it changes to a deep frown as he continues to laugh at her.

"It's not funny! You gave me the name weirdo, which I'm not, and I completely forgot I didn't tell you my name."

He attempts to stop laughing by holding his breath, but the way her face looks with the pout is just too much for him and he cracks up again. She just puts her hands on her hips, frowning at him as she turns away.

"Come on, we're almost to the apartment."

Natsu wipes away tears from his eyes and rushes to catch up to the blonde.

"Oh come on, you have to admit it, it was kinda funny."

She ignores him as she walks faster to the entrance of the apartment complex, a huff coming from her as he snickers once again.

"Don't be a party pooper weirdo!"

She turns to him quickly, a glare on her face.

"It's Lucy!"

"Luigi?"

"Lucy! Lu-cy."

"Lushi?"

"LU-CY"

"Luce?"

She sighs in frustration, rubbing her temples as she turns from him to the door of the apartment complex.

"Sure, Luce works just fine."

"Okay Lucy."

She twitches, her hand clenched into a fist. He could hear her mumbling words under her breath, and it didn't exactly sound pleasant. He couldn't help but smirk. It was really easy getting on her nerves, and it really was fun to poke fun at her.

"L-lets just go inside already and get your cat."

He follows her inside and is immediately overwhelmed by the smell of vanilla. He sneezes, scrunching his nose as it tingles from the intensity of the smell. Lucy notices his expression and turns to him.

"Your cat reeked, so I had to make it smell nice in here."

"Well, he kind of does run away a lot. So I have no idea where he ends up."

"How do you deal with the smell? That's kind of unhealthy."

Natsu just shrugs and he starts looking around for his cat in her apartment, rummaging through her things. He could hear her complaints as he moved things around, but he just couldn't seem to find his cat. Maybe he was in the kitchen?

"Where's the kitchen?"

She sighed, and led him to her kitchen, watching as he continued to open and close all the cabinets in search of his cat.

"I did leave him in my room earlier, we could look there."

He looks up at her, an annoyed look on his face.

"Well why didn't you say that earlier?"

She rolls her eyes, and pulls him towards her room.

"I was, but you were too busy going through my things to realize what I was even saying!"

He grins up at her from his spot on the in front of the fridge, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. He probably should have listened to the woman, but his mind was set on his cat. He's had Happy ever since he was a kid, and he's been through thick and thin with him.

"Sorry. But let's find him already!"

Lucy rolls her eyes, and turns away from the kitchen towards her room. Natsu gets up, quickly following the blonde as he sneezes again. The vanilla is really getting on his nerves, and the sooner they get out the better.

"I found him!"

Natsu follows her voice to a room that's actually pretty big. How she was able to fit all this stuff in her room amazed him, but then again she did seem pretty organized from when he went through her belongings. He spotted her sitting on her little couch she had near her desk petting Happy, who was content with just laying on her lap purring.

"HAPPY!"

The cat's head turns towards Natsu, staring blankly at him for a few seconds before going back comfortably into Lucy's lap. A small tear ran down Natsu's cheek as Lucy just laughed at the man, enjoying the fact that she was picked over the original owner. Natsu just stood there, horrified by the fact that he wasn't greeted like he usually was, and he could feel his heart breaking slowly into pieces.

"Luuuuucccyy, what did you do to my cat?!"

Lucy just shrugs and continues to pet Happy. It's not like she actually did anything, she just let the cat sleep with her during her nap. He was really warm and fluffy, it was really nice to sleep with the cat.

"Nothing really. He just took a nap with me."

She stares at the man, who had fallen to the floor in horror of his own cat not wanting to be in his arms, and snickered as he pouted. The pinkette glared at the blonde, but she just laughs out loud at his horrible job of a glare.

"He's my cat, quit hogging him!"

"He's the one that's just lying here. I'm not keeping him here forcefully."

Natsu continues pouting, his arms crossed tightly at his chest as he watches the pair snuggle in the couch. He didn't really mind it because the two looked adorable sitting there. He's never seen Happy that content in a long time.

"I should get going, it is late."

He heard a small meow come from Happy and he just rolled his eyes. Of course the damn cat would want to stay. Someone was willing to pet him in all his filth.

"Oh right. I almost forgot the time."

Lucy gets up, holding Happy as she stood from the couch. There was an excess amount of blue fur on her black skirt and Natsu had to hold back a giggle as he noticed it. She looked at him with question in her eyes, but he just shrugged and jumped up from the ground.

"It's nothing, I just thought of something funny."

"Ah, if you say so Natsu."

She hands him Happy, who in turn just squirms in Natsu's hands before Natsu lets go of the cat. The blue feline just meowed angrily and ran out of the room.

"S-sorry, he's a little ticked now I guess."

Lucy just laughs at the flushed pinkette as she hurries after the cat, hoping he wasn't getting into anything important.

"I'm assuming that means your own cat doesn't want to go home? Shame on you Natsu, what kind of household do you have?"

"A decent one where he should be at right now."

They spotted Happy sitting on the counter top in the kitchen, meowing at the fridge.

"Do you have fish?"

"Yes, why?"

"He loves fish."

"Okay."

"So give him some."

"That's gross! Just a plain fish?"

"Yup! Scales and all."

"Natsu that's disgusting."

"Yeah well you can tell that to Happy."

They heard a meow, and the two turned to the cat who was pawing at the refrigerator door. Natsu turned to the blonde and pointed at the cat.

"Look at him. He's starving."

"He's your cat!"

"This is your house!"

Lucy scoffed and yanked open the fridge door, nearly knocking out Happy in the process, and pulled out her plate of fish. She was hoping to prepare some of it tonight, but she could easily give up one of them to the cat right?

"Let's take him outside, I don't want my floor to reek of fish."

"You're so picky!"

"Well it is my house!"

With a sigh, Natsu grabbed Happy and followed Lucy outside her apartment while she carried the fish. For once this entire night, Happy had allowed Natsu to hold him longer than 3 seconds.

"Here, you can put him down now."

It was a little chilly outside that night, with a slight summer breeze coming through. Natsu shoved his nose into his scarf when he let Happy down, watching as the cat devoured the fish in mere seconds. He spotted Lucy staring up at the sky, a small smile on her lips.

"What's up there?"

Lucy continues to look up at the night sky, watching as the stars seemed to twinkle. It was a clear night, so the sky was ablaze with the light from the stars.

"The stars of course dummy."

"But what else is there? Not too many people will just stare at the sky."

"Well there are constellations of people and animals. It's beautiful really."

"It's weird actually."

Lucy just sighs, and she turns to look at the man.

"I think Happy is done finally."

They both look to the cat, who is now curled up on the grass napping. He had finished it quickly and decided a nap was what he needed. With a huff, Natsu grabs the cat and puts him in his arms.

"Thanks, you know, for finding my cat."

Lucy smiled at him, nodding as she held her arms for warmth.

"You just got lucky, that's all."

Natsu laughs, and waves at her as he's walking off.

"Drop by the bar again Luce, maybe you can see Happy sometime!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be longer, and I'm still (as always apparently) working out the kinks for this fic. I'm debating on making another fic, but a song fic? Yes? No?


	5. Frostbite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu attempts to enjoy the company he got during his time at Love and Lucky.

 

It had been a few weeks since the pinkette had seen his lemonade girl. Maybe she got busy? They were in college, and some people had midterms. Which honestly, they sucked. A lot. He could deal with college if it weren't for midterms. Everyone was stressing, and any college kid who ended up coming to his bar was always complaining. He was getting sick of it. Couldn't they complain to a beer at their own place? With a sigh, Natsu leaned against the bar top and mindlessly wiped the table. It was a slow day, he had to assume everyone was too busy last minute studying.

"Natsu."

He honestly wished someone would come entertain him, because he still had 4 hours left on his shift and it wasn't going any faster. Hell, he wouldn't mind seeing Gray even! He just needed something to keep him from boredom.

"Flame-brain."

He could almost hear his annoying voice right next to him. Was he going crazy from the lack of excitement? He rubbed his temples, hoping that he wasn't actually crazy enough to imagine the stripper's voice right next to him.

"OI! FIRE-FREAK"

"SHUT UP BRAIN"

"I'M RIGHT HERE YOU IDIOT!"

"GRAY SHUT UP!"

Natsu turned to the voice, surprised that he wasn't actually crazy when he saw Gray standing in front of him in his shirtless glory.

"Ew man, seriously? That stripping shit has to stop."

"Screw you, it just happens."

The darker haired man grabbed his shirt from the floor and slipped it back on before settling into the bar stool next to him.

"Why is it so slow here tonight?"

"Hell if I know."

"But you work here."

"So?"

"So, you should know."

"Nah."

"Yes. That's how it works idiot."

Natsu shrugged, ignoring the statement from the stripper. He regretted wanting to see Gray. He wanted to see Lucy. She was a lot more fun than Gray was, and he was honestly ticking him off.

"Why are you even here?"

"Because I wanted a drink."

"But you drink over at Fairy Tail."

"It's closer here."

Natsu rolled his eyes, grabbing an assortment of ingredients for Gray's usual drink.

"Go a little heavier on the rum please."

"That makes it gross! I hate it when you want it burnt."

Gray flips off the young bartender and Natsu scowls at him, but continues to make his drink.

It was a fairly easy drink to make. Ice. Milk. Rum. Malt Powder. And just a bit of ice cream. Honestly it was a pretty sissy drink, but Gray liked it. It was one of the coldest drinks Natsu even enjoyed making. After blending the weird vanilla-y concoction he handed it to Gray.

"Want some whipped cream on top of that?"

"Go screw yourself."

"Hey, I'm just asking. I mean, it's pretty much a milkshake."

"And I like it, now quit."

"Sissy."

"Dick."

"Bitch baby."

"Dude. Really? We're going that way?"

Natsu grinned, and he rolled his white sleeves up. He was itching for a fight, and he hadn't had any good ones at his practice in weeks.

"So what if I am?"

Gray was practically growling in annoyance at the pinkette, his hand clenching the freezing glass fairly tight.

"Hey! Aren't you that guy who makes those great ice sculptures?"

Gray turned to the voice of the other bartender that works with Natsu, and for some god awful reason he can't remember the kid's name.

"Yeah, why?"

"Wouldyoubewillingtotrythisdrinkimade."

"I'm sorry what?"

"I made a drink inspired by your work. I call it Frostbite."

That peaked Gray's interest, and he fought the urge to punch Natsu in the face. The idiot was complaining loudly to the kid about how he was about to fight Gray.

"Sure, why not."

It took the giddy boy a few minutes, but he came back with a bright blue drink. It honestly looked like someone had gotten frostbite.

"Holy shit. This looks awesome."

The boy grinned, his hands on his hips as he stood there proud of his drink.

"I made it with tequila, white crème de cacao, blue curacao and some cream. What do you think?"

The boy waited for him to try the drink, watching in anticipation for the reaction the sculptor was going to make. Gray took a hesitant sip of the blue drink, and his eyes widened.

"This is actually pretty good. Not awesome, but if you tweak it around it'll be a great drink!"

The boy grinned and fist pumped the air.

"Yes! Next time you come by I'll have it perfected!"

Gray smiles at the boy.

"I can't wait."

"Dude. You're gross."

Gray flipped off the pinkette and downed his melted drink, and burped.

"Yeah, you're gross and weird. How did you not get a brain freeze?"

Gray just shrugs, grabbing the 'Frostbite' to finish it.

"Did we even name the drink you made up?"

Natsu tapped his chin in thought, thinking back to when they figured out the concoction. Either they were really drunk, or the name was just too stupid to even remember.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Wanna come up with one right now?"

Gray shrugs, chugging the rest of the 'Frostbite' quickly before practically slamming the glass down onto the countertop. Natsu jumps slightly at the sound and glares at Gray.

"Dude. Really? Can you not break the glass?"

"What about 'ice make'? It sounds cool enough."

Natsu's nose wrinkles when he hears the name. He thought the name was dumb, but it was Gray's drink so he honestly didn't give a crap. With a shrug, he grabbed the glasses from the countertop and went to clean them off.

"It's okay. But if it's a name you'll remember then let's stick with that."

"Damn right I'll remember something like that. And it's not okay, it's great! How could you think it's just 'okay'?"

He ignored Gray complain about how dumb he was, and he would much rather be thinking about a certain blonde anyway. He really was getting worried, he hasn't seen her and he really wanted to poke more fun at her. Even his cat was being moody, and Happy is never moody. Ever.

"...Dude. What is wrong with you?"

"What do you mean? Nothing is wrong with me."

"You've been like it for a while now. Like you just tend to daydream and ignore all of us. It's getting really annoying."

Natsu just scoffed at the man, mindlessly wiping the countertop again. He didn't notice if he was any different, mainly because he didn't feel any different. He was just worried. Was that so bad?

"There's just some stuff going on, nothing major."

"Well figure it out flame idiot. Because it's annoying watching you be like this. It's like you're infatuated with a girl or something. "

The pinkette felt his face heat up at the mention of liking a girl.

"I-it's not like that!"

"Right. It's not. Your face definitely says otherwise."

"No seriously, it's not!"

"Whatever you say Natsu."

Natsu turned away from the man, a pout on his lips as he wiped the glasses Gray had just used.

"You're a dick ice princess."

"Just like you're a pansy."

Gray stood up from his chair, watching as Natsu slowly took in that last retort. He could be slow at times, and right now was the peak of his obliviousness. He was flustered because of some weird reason. He definitely thought it was because of a girl, but Natsu never talked about girls. Ever.

"HEY! I AM NOT A PANSY!"

Natsu lunges after Gray over the countertop and the two topple to the ground with a loud thud. Most of the patrons ignore the two, but several of them head to the two that are now brawling on the ground. The other bartender leans over the countertop, a concerned look on his face.

"U-uhm. Natsu? Is there a reason for you fighting?"

"Not now kid! I'm busy beating ice freak to a pulp!"

"But the customers are standing around you."

"Kid, did you not listen to the flame idiot? We're busy right now!"

"S-sorry!"

The two men continued their fight, if you could call it that, on the floor. Punches were thrown at each other, and each had landed a few on the other.

"Natsu."

"Not right now."

"But there's a crowd right now."

"Dude."

"I'm serious Natsu."

"Yeah, and I'm trying to win against Gray!"

A loud cough was heard and the two fighting stopped and stared up into the crowd. They could see a familiar head of striking red hair and they both gulped in terror.

"Shit."

"Fuck."

They both scrambled to get up, and they cowered at the woman standing in front of them. Her arms were crossed tightly against her chest, and her eyebrow was raised in annoyance.

"Gray started it!"

Natsu spoke up before Gray could accuse him of anything, and the darker haired man turned quickly to Natsu to glare at him.

"Natsu was just being a pansy!"

"No I wasn't!"

"SILENCE BOTH OF YOU!"

The two slink back into the wall of the bar top, cowering in fear of the woman. Natsu knew better than to anger the woman standing above the two.

"I told you two idiots to stop fighting each other!"

They both scoffed and moved away from each other, arms crossed in defiance. The red haired woman glared at the two, a tick on her face as she tapped her finger impatiently.

"Will you two ever learn?"

They ignored her, a scowl on each of their faces as they continued to sit away from each other. The woman crouched to their level and pulled the two of them together by their sleeves.

"Apologize."

They ignored each other still, and she smooshed their faces together until and smirked at their pained expressions.

"You will apologize immediately."

"Y-yes Ma'am"

"A-aye sir."

She releases her grip on the two and takes a step back, waiting for their apologies to commence.

"Sorry flame idiot, for calling you a pansy."

"Sorry for fighting."

The red haired woman smiled down at the two, and she put her hands on her hips.

"Good. Now Gray, we must go. You have an essay that is due soon."

"What? That's not even due till next week!"

The woman glares at Gray, and he shrinks away from her.

"S-sorry Erza. L-let's go."

Natsu watches as Gray scrambles to get up quickly, and he gets up as well, dusting his pants off. The patrons had all gone back to their seats, but the younger bartender was still freaking out over the fight between the two idiots. Natsu let out a deep breath, and checked the time on the nearby clock. That little brawl only lasted 20 minutes, and Natsu was shocked that Erza even bothered to come to this bar. None of his friends typically came down this way, they preferred Fairy Tail since it was closer. He did hear something about Gray having an essay due, and she was probably there to make sure he actually did his work. Gray was a slacker when it came to English, and Erza would have none of that.

"Hey, kid. I get off soon, what do you want me to do before I leave?"

The boy snapped out of the daze he was in and looked around the bar. It was a slow night, like always, and they had gotten a lot of the stuff done before Natsu's friend had come in.

"If you wanted to leave now you can. I really don't want to see you right now after that fight anyway. You look a little bruised up."

Natsu didn't realize that the boy's face had a horrible green tinge to it and he smirked on the inside. Having squeamish coworkers was always a blast, and if he could get sick from just a few bruises then Natsu was going to have a blast.

"Oh, this is nothing. You should see me when I'm at my tournaments, they tend to get pretty brutal."

The boy's face paled, and he looked like he was going to puke.

"Don't worry, no one dies."

Natsu laughed when the boy sighed in relief, and he continued on his way towards the exit.

"Thanks for letting me go home early, even though I really did nothing."

The boy shrugged, and he waved him off.

"Just go home Natsu, I'm done for today. At least you didn't light anything on fire."

Natsu just grinned at the boy and put his scarf on before he left the building.

"Later kid."

"Bye Natsu."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I really do love getting reviews, they help me out a bunch! I love hearing from everyone, and thanks to all the followers! Any requests for a chapter? These next few ones are going to be 'filler' with some more Nalu fluff in it. ^^
> 
> Thank you again, and I hope you look forward next week for the update!


	6. Happy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu goes on a long adventure just to find his cat. 
> 
> Again.

“Happy?”

The pinkette looked around for his blue cat, pulling the sheets from his bed off the corners to see if he was hiding under the bed, but to no luck. He ran a hair through his pink ruffles, a sigh escaping his lips in frustration. This had been the third time this week he’d run off, most the time just hiding in the building somewhere. But Natsu had a feeling that Happy wasn’t going to be here tonight, though.

“Dammit. I really wanted to just go to sleep.”

He quickly removed his work clothes and searched for some that didn't smell like he's worn it all week. He had this naturally bad habit of not cleaning, and it wasn't helping him out at all. After a few minutes of searching he managed to find a black V-neck shirt and straight cut jeans that didn't look too bad. He's going through so much more effort than he needed to to find his cat. But he had a feeling he was going to be walking around a lot and he'd much rather be in comfortable clothes than his work clothes.

 "I really should keep my room locked up."

Natsu left his bedroom, making sure that it was properly locked before he set out for his cat. Thankfully, everyone was in their rooms so they wouldn't question him for leaving so late again at night. It’s been way too many times this week he’s had to search for Happy that everyone’s been questioning him being up and out so late.

It’s not like he had a choice. He worried about Happy. He was slightly stupid. But only slightly. Natsu made his way outside and looked around his building, calling out the cat’s name. There would be days that Happy would pop up and he could chase after the cat, but mostly he had to search for a few hours for him. And today was one of those days. He trudged his way around campus, lazily calling for Happy as he went on through the night. He made his way around the entire dorm area, not even seeing any signs of his blue cat anywhere. He huffed in annoyance before he realized where he was. He was fairly certain that Lucy lived around here. He could go see if she’s seen Happy at all today. It took him awhile before he was able to figure out which apartment building was hers. He really only remembered it because she likes lemonade, which is yellow, and her apartment building is yellow and her hair is yellow and she smiled brightly like the sun which was yellow.

She was yellow.

But in a pretty way.

He saw her window open to her room, which was thankfully only on the second floor. It looked like it was a fairly easy climb, but he wanted to make sure she was awake before he thought of coming up. He looked around on the ground for small pebbles that wouldn’t break the window if he threw it, and grinned when he was able to muster up a handful of pebbles. One by one he threw them at her window, hoping to grab her attention. When he realized that throwing them one by one didn’t work, he grabbed another handful of pebbles and threw them all at once at her window, grinning when he heard a small yelp come from inside the room. He watched as the lights in her room got brighter, and the thin curtains were pulled aside to open the window. She peeked out the window slowly, looking around the ground and gasped when she spotted the pink hair.

“Natsu!”

He grinned up at her, noticing how her hair was in a messy braid and she looked exhausted.

“Hiya! I just have a quick question. Well, two, really. First, can I come in?”

Lucy rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, wondering why in the world the pink idiot wanted to see her at this late of an hour. She simply nodded to the man below her on the ground.

“Yeah, just give me a second to go to the-”

“Just move away from your window, I can climb that.”

“Natsu, don’t be an idiot. You can’t climb this!”

His comment woke her up immediately, and she watched in horror as he started to scale the wall to her window. It wasn’t far, but it was still an insane thing to do.

“This is easy Luce! Now move, I gotta get in somehow.”

The woman scrambled away from the window just as Natsu rolled over the windowsill and onto her bed. He looked up at her with a grin, and spotted a ball of blue fur on her pink pillow.

“Happy!”

The cat looked up with bleary eyes and yawned before going back to sleep, nuzzling his nose into his paw.

“How long has he been here? Why didn’t you bring him back?”

Lucy got comfortable on her bed with her legs crossed and her oversized t-shirt was pushed to cover her extremely short shorts, and she looked away with a pout on her face.

“I only found him a few hours ago when I was getting back from practice. It was already 12 so I thought you’d be asleep. It is nearly 2 in the morning Natsu.”

The man shrugged it off, reaching for the blue ball of fur before Lucy smacked his hand away.

“Leave him alone! He’s sleeping!”

Natsu pouted at the woman, holding his hand with a hurt look in his eyes. She just rolled her eyes before pushing him off her bed, snickering as he just fell to the floor with a loud thump.

“You’re filthy, stay off my bed.”

“It’s not my fault that your bed is right where your window is!”

“Why are you even this gross?”

“I was looking for Happy.”

He stared at her like it was obvious, but she just scrunched up her nose in distaste. She didn’t think it was worth getting that dirty just for a pet. She ran a hand through her bangs, sighing at the angry pout he was giving her.

“It’s not going to help you.”

“Come on! I’m not even that dirty! If I take my shirt off, it’ll be like I never climbed a tree.”

“You climbed a tree? What gave you the idea that Happy was in a tree?”

“He’s a cat. Don’t cats like trees?”

He watched as the woman sighed in exasperation as she grabbed her other pillow and threw it at him.

“Not all cats like trees and I highly doubt any of them would just sleep in it for fun this time of night.”

Natsu just stared at her blankly, not taking what she said to heart. He had to believe that Happy liked trees, otherwise how else was the cat getting so dirty? He turned away from her, crossing his arms as he pouted and she rolled her eyes at him. He ignored the pillow that she threw at him, scooting away from her bed and the pillow as well. Lucy moved back to the head of the bed, sliding under her thick blanket next to Happy.

“You should just sleep here, it’s late and I don’t want to get out of my bed to lock my door when you leave.”

Natsu turned and stared at her like she was insane. They barely even knew each other and she was already asking him to sleep with her? He could feel his heart beating faster, his face heating up as he took a small peek over his shoulder at the girl lying in her bed behind him as he took in a sharp breath.

“T-there’s no way that I can stay the night here!”

Lucy grumbled, rolling over in her bed to be facing away from him.

“Natsu, it’s 3 in the morning. Go to sleep.”

Natsu sighed, plopping down on the floor and he grabs her pillow, pushing it under his head. It smelled fairly strongly of vanilla, but he could smell a faint scent of coconut. Maybe it was her shampoo she used? He didn’t notice it when he first met her, but she smelled slightly like sweat and coffee. Sighing, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, but it wasn’t exactly working. There was a woman sleeping right next to him.

“Luce?”

He held his breath for a second, waiting for a response but the only thing he heard was her faint snoring. He tried to count sheep, but he kept thinking about the woman sleeping next to him. Why would she suggest that he should stay the night? Was it just because it was late? That had to be it. He would consider them friends, pretty good friends actually, but he never really thought anything much more of the woman. He heard teeth chattering and looked over to see Lucy shivering slightly, the blankets wrapped tightly around her.

“Does she not use the heat in her apartment?”

He crawls to her, but remembers that she didn’t like how filthy he was. He quickly removed his shirt, pulling at her blankets when he had taken off his shirt and slid in next to her. He used to sleep with his cousin all the time when they were younger because she liked how warm he was; surely Lucy wouldn’t mind a space heater? He turned himself so that their backs were to each other, and he sighed. Her bed was abnormally comfortable, and having Happy there purring helped lull him to sleep. It wasn’t too long before he was snoring away with Lucy by his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this chapter is so short! I'm working on this next chapter to be quite the filler about this AU and such.   
> I'd love for some more comments, tell me what you like and what you don't!
> 
> Thank you for following! See you next week~


	7. Fight Club?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been redone, so if you haven't just re-read it. I've done some slight adjustments, but it won't hurt you to not read it. If this is your first time reading this chapter since my last update (Oct. 1) I do apologize for the late chapter update! My beta is too busy to help me now. But enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been redone, so if you haven't just re-read it. I've done some slight adjustments, but it won't hurt you to not read it. If this is your first time reading this chapter since my last update (Oct. 1) I do apologize for the late chapter update! My beta is too busy to help me now. But enjoy!

Lucy awoke to the loud meowing of a certain cat siting above her head. She grumbled and attempted to move over, but there was an arm trapping her in her spot. She was wondering why she had felt abnormally warm that night, and she turned her head to the body next to her and shrieked. Quite loudly for that fact. The man lying next to her moaned, rolling over as he pulled the pillow over his ears.

"Happy... shut up."

Lucy sat up in her bed, holding the covers over her chest as she shoved Natsu off her bed with a swift kick to the rear end. He fell with a loud thump, and she tugged the covers over her more. He wailed in pain as he rolled around holding his elbow.

"NATSU!"

He looked up groggily at Lucy, whose face was red in embarrassment and her eyes glistened with unshed tears, before it dawned on him where he was exactly. He scrambled back to the opposite wall, his face a scarlet red as he tried to utter words out of his mouth that refused to function.

"I-it's not like that Lucy! J-Just c-calm down."

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN! YOU WERE IN MY BED SHIRTLESS AND HOLDING ME!"

"Oh, so you do understand."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT YOU IDIOT!"

Natsu plugs his ears, wincing as she continued to yell at him. He zoned her out after she said the same things over and over again, and he was getting annoyed with it. He yawned, and attempted to cover it to his elbow as he continued to plus his ears with his fingers. She was still yelling, and it was almost 5 minutes now. Or, it felt like it was 5 minutes. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry! You were just shivering like crazy, and your teeth were chattering and it was getting really annoying. Like, it was so loud!"

He watched as Lucy's face turned a bright shade of red before she shoved her face into her covers. He slowly released the makeshift plug he had on his ears and stood up. He walked to where his shirt was and slipped it on. He snickered as Lucy was screaming profanities into her covers, and he slowly tried to slip out of her apartment. Just as he was about to leave her bedroom, he tripped over Happy and cursed under his breath. Lucy shot up from her spot on the bed, and she stumbled around her covers to chase after the pink haired idiot. He crawled on the floor as fast as he could to the exit, but she jumped in front of him, standing tall before him.

"Don't you dare think of leaving before I can do anything to you!"

As he looked up at the woman, his face flushed and he looked away.

"Y-your shorts…"

Lucy looked down and realized that her shorts were very, very short. And that didn't leave much for the imagination. She squeals in terror, squatting down as she shoved her shirt to cover herself.

"D-don't look, idiot!"

She shoved his face away with her free hand, and she slowly scooted away from him.

"What's there to even see?"

Lucy screeched as she kicked him in the face, standing with her shirt pulled over her shorts with her face a bright shade of red.

"GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"

Natsu had landed a ways back, his nose bleeding profusely as he tried to clog it. His face had a slight bruise from her kicking him square in the face, and his right eye was a little swollen.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KICK ME!"

"YOU WERE BEING RUDE!"

Natsu had gotten up, shoving the end of his shirt up to his nose and was towering over here with a look of anger and distaste.

"I was only telling the truth!"

"Don't be so cruel!"

He winced as she continued to yell at him. His nose was still bleeding, and he didn't know what time it was. He had left his phone at his dorm room, and he knew better than to ask Lucy what time it was. She might yell at him for changing the subject or something dumb.

"Have you finished punishing me for being in your bed?"

Her eye twitched, and she stomped over to her front door and propped it open before she stomped back over to him and grabbed him back his collar and tugged him roughly to the door.

"Don't do that again, idiot!"

She removes her hand from his collar and she turns him quickly around so he's facing outside and she kicks him in the back so he's forced to go outside.

"Fix that nose of yours too! You got blood on my floor!"

"You were the one that kicked me!"

Lucy scoffed, and she slammed the door on his face as he tried to go back inside. He huffed, but ended up sputtering as blood was dripping through his shirt to his mouth. This was going to be a long walk back to the dorm.

As Natsu continued on his day at school, he got tons of comments on his face. He was used to it, but because a girl caused it he was more flustered about it. His eye was slightly swollen, and his nose was pretty bruised up. It looked like he didn't put up a fight, and a lot of the guys at school was poking fun at him because he was all beaten up. He was known for never losing a fight, and to see Natsu with bruises on his face that actually looked pretty bad was hilarious and scary. Slowly, a lot of the students began to spread rumors that there was someone way stronger than Natsu, like scary strong. A lot of people laughed at it, saying that there was no way someone was stronger than Natsu.

The whole thing was frustrating Natsu, and he had this really bad itch to just knock anyone out who came up to him with comments about his face. He was glad he had MMA practice today though, because if he didn't, a lot of people would be seriously hurt because they don't know when to keep their mouth shut. He didn't have the chance to see Gray at all; throwing a few punches at the guy would have helped a lot too!

Natsu just continued to grumble throughout the day as people continued to poke fun at him, and he couldn't be anymore happier that classes were finally over after lunch. He would finally be able to go to practice and vent out his frustration through a punching bag or a person. Or both. Both would work just fine to him.

By the time he ran out of the university and to the school gym, it was packed. All sorts of college guys wanting to let out their angst through sweat and random grunts were already using all the different machines, and he huffed. He ignored everyone else and went straight to the locker room to change out of his jeans. He walked to the back of the locker room away from everyone else, and found his typical locker that was tucked away from the rest and smiled to himself. As he was changing his clothes, someone bumped in to him and he cursed, turning quickly with his hand clenched into a fist.

"What the hell man?!"

The man that had bumped into Natsu scoffed, blowing his long black hair from his face. Natsu's face scrunched up in distaste at the sight of the man. The taller man had fairly long black hair, and piercings on his nose and where his eyebrows should be. After looking a little harder, Natsu noticed four more studs on each of his forearms, but the guy had a lot of scars. The guy looked like he'd been through more than a few fights, and Natsu grinned in excitement. Maybe this guy would actually put up a good fight compared to everyone else at the MMA team.

"I was here first. Why don't you go somewhere else?" Natsu glared at the man, both of his hand clenched tight into a fist. The taller man just scoffed, a small smirk on his face.

"Tch. Think you're hot stuff?" The man scowls at the pinkette, tilting his head slightly to stare at him with a weird glare. Since the pinkette was shorter, it did look slightly menacing. But only slightly. He loved a challenge, and if this guy was willing to give him one, he wanted in.

"Yeah, actually. I mean, I do play with fire." Natsu had this shit eating grin as the man just rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean idiot."

"Nah, I don't."

"What, are you actually stupid? Get dropped too many times as a kid?"

Natsu slammed the door to his locker shut, and he stood angled with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. He didn't really mind the whole dropped comment, he just wanted to pick a fight with the guy.

"Hardly. But I have a better idea; let's take this to the mat?"

The studded man smirked, and he shrugged.

"Yeah, why not. I've wanted to beat someone up lately."

Natsu laughs at the man, and he cracks his knuckles.

"I'm pretty sure it's going to be me beating you up."

The taller man just grunted and walked away from Natsu's little corner, and Natsu opened his locker door back open to pop the rest of his stuff back into it. He carefully folded his scarf and placed it on top of his backpack before he shut the locker door. He had a wide grin on his face as he was getting more and more pumped to actually have a fight. Hopefully it was going to be a good one, the guy looked pretty tough.

When Natsu made it to the mat, he saw that the guy had already wrapped his hands and was stretching.

"Dude, how long does it take you?" The guy stood there with his arms crossed now, his finger tapping impatiently on his forearm. Natsu knew he was barely 5 minutes, but it still ticked him off that the guy was impatient. They were going to fight, couldn't the guy just wait a few minutes?

"As long as I need! Now let's get to it." Natsu quickly wrapped his hands, making sure they felt comfortable before he slid on his gloves. He watched as the taller man did the same before they walked onto the mat, a small crowd gathered around it. Both fighters popped their mouth guards in before meeting in the center of the mat, both of them shuffling their feet and rolling their shoulders. The yelling around the mat got a lot louder, and they waited to see who would strike first.

Natsu huffed, clenching his teeth tighter on his mouth guard and took a quick step forward as he waited to see what the other man would do. The black haired man just stood still, waiting for an actual strike. Natsu grinned, as well as he could with a mouth guard, and he went in for a punch to his side. The man just shoved his hand aside and sent Natsu a swift kick to the leg to knock him off balance. As Natsu moved backwards to regain his balance, the other man just continued to move forward with several punches aimed at Natsu's head while the pinkette just dodged every attack from the taller man. When

Natsu was finally able to regain a moment to himself, and the other guy just chuckled.

Natsu growled in frustration, and he charged at the guy. After a few punches thrown at each other, Natsu was finally able to land a kick sweep, but the man tangled his legs with Natsu's so that he would fall with him. The two grappled at the floor with Natsu on top, his punches landing every so often. After a few minutes of punches and half attempts at getting out, Natsu stands up. He pops his mouth guard out of his mouth and stands over the man, who now has several cuts on his face from the punches he received, and holds his hand out.

"That was a good fight, but the way it was going, it wasn't going to end." The man stared at Natsu's outstretched hand, contemplating on taking it.

"There's no way we tied. I could have definitely won that." The man rubbed the blood from is cheek as he spoke to Natsu, and Natsu just grinned.

"Oh yeah, you could have definitely won."

"Oi, I'm serious!"

"And I'm serious too!"

The man below him huffed in annoyance and slid his glove off before taking Natsu's gloved hand. Natsu pulled him up with ease, and he grinned at the man.

"I'm Natsu by the way."

"Gajeel."

"What kind of name is that?"

"It was the name given to me!" The two had their heads rubbing against each other, and a small growl could be heard from the two of them. A couple of the guys from the crowd around them came up and pulled them away from each other. Gajeel wiped the blood from his face, taking his other glove off as Natsu did the same. Thankfully he didn't have as much blood as Gajeel, but his nose hurt like no other.

"Are you here with the MMA team?" Natsu looked over to Gajeel, who was holding a cut on his eye with the spare cloth he had, who looked up at him with question in his eyes.

"There's an MMA team here?"

"Well, we're kind of a team. We all just get together on certain days and fight."

Gajeel just stared at the pinkette, a dumbstruck look on his face and he just snickered.

"I can believe an idiot like you is on that team."

Natsu advanced on Gajeel but someone was holding him back from the man, and he scowled at the taller man.

"I'm not an idiot!"

"And I'm not falling for that."

Gajeel turned away from Natsu, a smirk on his face as he walked away.

"Next time we fight, I'll win."

Natsu laughs at Gajeel as he walks away, and he huffs once he's out of ear shot. He angrily ripped his last glove off and he runs a hand through his extremely messy hair. He could feel the sweat drip down his forehead, and his upper lip curled in disgust. He was frustrated; he could have easily defeated that guy, but it kept going nowhere. He was tired of dealing punches and getting punched. Or kicked. He hated that guy's piercing too! They would barely graze his skin, but it felt horrible. Natsu shuddered at the thought of them touching his skin again.

He needed to shower.

Mainly because he was sweating. Not because of that guy.

No. Way.


	8. Fairy Tail and Fight Club Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And this is just a revised version of the last chapter that was called "So You're New Here?". There are many changes to this chapter, so read through this one again if anything! If not, it won't affect you all that much. Enjoy!

Natsu didn't take a long shower. The men in that locker room are always rambunctious, and it sometime got a little out of hand.

Or a lot. It depends on who is there.

And today was a day he didn't want to spend time in there, especially with how his face looked. He'd had more than enough teasing to last him a lifetime.

Just before he left the gym, he noticed a familiar blonde hair just at the doors. He grinned, and he began sprinting towards the woman with blonde hair. Right as he reached her, he spun her around to scare her and notice that it wasn't his blonde girl. Instead, it was this creepy old lady. With lots of wrinkles.

"Luigi?!"

The old lady just stares at him, before she actually registers what he had said.

"My name isn't Luigi!"

Natsu stared at the lady in horror.

"H-how did you get so old?"

"That's rude young man! Why do you have pink hair?"

"It's natural!"

"And it's natural for me to be old! Now apologize!"

Before he could properly apologize to the old lady, Natsu felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see Lucy there. Wrinkle free.

"LUCY!"

He grabbed her and squeezed her into a tight hug, her pink bag falling to the floor as her arms were crushed into his chest. The old lady stood there, tapping her arm impatiently.

"I'm waiting for an apology boy!"

"N-Natsu. I can't breathe." Lucy wheezed out the same time the old lady spoke, but she was just squeezed tighter into his chest. After a few more seconds, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away to about arm's length.

"I thought you turned into that old lady!" Natsu stared at her, a slightly horrified expression on his face when she began to laugh.

"Why would you think that she was me?" Lucy shoved his hands from her shoulder as she picked up her bag.

"Well, her hair did look kinda like yours. And I was far away!" He watched as she doubled over in laughter, and it was then that Natsu noticed she was at the gym. "What are you even doing here?"

Lucy settles her laughter, wiping a tear from her eye. He shifted on his feet uncomfortably as he waited for her answer. They both heard an angry cough and turned to the old woman still standing there, waiting for an apology. Natsu rubbed his neck and he bowed his head to her.

"I'm sorry for calling you an old lady."

The woman huffed and turned on her heel, slowly if anything, and waved her hand off at him.

"I'll accept it this time, but next time I won't be so easy on you!"

Natsu made a face at the woman as she walked away and he heard Lucy laugh. He turned back to her and remembered she hadn't answered him.

"Well?"

"Oh! I have practice here every day."

"Practice?"

"Yeah, I'm in ballet. I didn't tell you?"

"Why would you tell me that? And that doesn't sound like you." Natsu watched as her face turned a slight pink, and her lip pursed in disappointment.

"I'll have you know that I got a scholarship with it! So it is very much like me." Lucy crosses her arms, her head turned up slightly to show off her pride in some odd way. Natsu just rolled his eyes, and he remembers what happened this morning.

"Look at what you did to me!" Natsu points at his face, and Lucy winces when she finally realizes the damage that she did to his face. She didn't really think at the time it would be that bad. When she inspected it more, she noticed that there were some fresh wounds.

"Hey, not all of that is me."

Natsu touches a little bit of his face and finds fresh blood, and he wipes the blood off on his pants. He grins sheepishly at Lucy, a hand rubbing the back of his neck.

"R-right. I was in a fight not too long ago."

"A FIGHT?!"

The people inside the lobby of the gym all turn to look at Lucy, whose face turned a bright shade of red and she quickly bowed her head in apology to the people in the lobby before she grabbed Natsu's wrist and tugged him outside.

"What do you mean a fight?"

Natsu just shrugs his shoulders, and he opens his gym bag to show her the gloves and other accessories he had.

"I'm an MMA fighter. And I had a spar with some guy."

Lucy stared hard at him before Natsu decided to look away.

"Stop changing the subject! Look, I'm sorry I slept in your bed. So let me make it up to you."

Lucy's face turns pink at the memory of him being in her bed, and she huffs. He frowned, tugging his wrist out of her hand.

"Come on, I'm trying to apologize. I'm pretty sure you haven't eaten either."

At that note, Lucy's stomach growled and she crossed her arms tightly over her stomach. It was embarrassing enough that she made a scene in the lobby, but to have her stomach growl in front of another person?

"What do you have in mind then?" Lucy turned her head to him as she brushed a strand of hair from her face. He grinned as he grabbed her pink bag from her hands and he slung it over his shoulder with his.

"I know this great place! They have really good food, and they have an arcade and stuff!"

She contemplates going out. She was still in her leggings and plain t-shirt, so she didn't exactly feel very pretty. She turned to look at what Natsu's wearing, and notices he's just about the same as her. He has on some faded jeans and a black t-shirt. And that t-shirt did more than the imagination could ever do. She never did realize just how toned he was, and she could see a hint of something red peeking out a little bit below his shoulder.

"So? Do you want to go eat? It'll be my treat!"

She glanced up at his grinning face, and she sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, where are we eating?"

He grinned more, if that was even possible, as he turned her around and began pushing her towards wherever it was they were going. She almost tripped over her own feet but he steadied her before standing next to her.

"Don't worry, it's a good place. I used to hang out there a lot before I got my job."

As the two walked towards the unknown place that Natsu decided to pick, they chatted about their school life and what they do at practice. Natsu learned that Lucy has been doing ballet ever since she could stand, and he saw the shoes that they had to wear. Which looked horrible. They looked really painful, but Lucy said she got used to it after a while. She showed him some simple dance stuff that apparently was easy to do in vans. But whatever it was she did looked beautiful.

"Do you have to wear your hair up?"

Lucy turned back to Natsu, who had lagged behind when she showed him this twirly thing.

"I do when I practice, why?"

Natsu just shrugged, and he quickened his pace to catch up to her.

"No reason. You just look pretty with your hair down too."

Lucy's face flushed, and she looked away from him. Her hair was in a loose, and very messy, braid. She thought about taking it down before Natsu grabbed her wrist and took off running.

"W-wait! Why are we running?" Lucy tried to pull her wrist from his hand but he held on tighter as he kept running.

"It's just up there! Hurry up, I think I see ice-freak."

Lucy was confused when she heard the name 'ice-freak.' What kind of person did Natsu know to be called Ice-Freak? Before she could ask, she spotted an absurdly big building with lights so bright she almost had to shield her eyes. And the sun wasn't even down yet.

"Are you sure that's not a club?"

Natsu turns back with a wide grin on his face.

"It's a little bit of everything. Now come on!"

The pair continued running to the building, which read Fairy Tail in big red neon lights, and Natsu kicked open the door once they were close enough. Startled, Lucy snapped her wrist out of his hand but he continued to barge in. She calmly walked inside, and immediately lost her pink haired companion in the mess of people and loud shouting.

Inside was like a bar, club and arcade mixed in one place. And it was a rambunctious place to be. How Natsu expected them to eat there left Lucy more confused than she wanted to be. She slowly made her way around to find a small bar area in the back. She looked around for a pink haired idiot before sighing in defeat.

"New here?"

Lucy's head snapped up to see a beautiful woman with shocking white hair. Lucy smiled sheepishly and she fumbled with her braid.

"Yes. My friend brought me here, but I lost him in that mess."

The woman laughed, and Lucy felt annoyed.

"Don't worry, he'll probably be back here in a little bit. It tends to happen a lot here."

"That?"

"Oh yes, it's always the same group of people in that little ball of fighting."

Lucy turned back and spotted a flash of pink in the disarray and she huffed.

"He promised me some food, but I don't see anywhere it could be made."

The woman laughed, and Lucy turned back to her and noticed a little shine in her blue eyes.

"I'm the one who makes food, did you want something?"

"You make the food? But you're the bartender. Bartendress. Bartender lady?"

Lucy's face was flushed as she tried to figure out the proper term for the woman in front of her.

"You can just call me Mira."

"Mira. Okay. I'm Lucy by the way."

Mira smiles at Lucy, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"So what can I get for you?"

"She'll have a lemonade for now Mira."

Lucy jumps when she hears a deeper voice behind her back, and she turns to smack Natsu on his chest. He just grins at her, taking the seat next to her. She notices a few more bruises, or maybe those are cuts, on his face and arms.

"Where did you go? You left me behind!"

Natsu just grinned as he popped his knuckles.

"I just won the fight between someone I know."

Mira comes back, a small smile on her face as she hands Lucy the lemonade.

"I'm fairly certain that's not how it went Natsu."

"Oi! I did too win!"

Mira just chuckles, and Natsu plops his chin on the table as he pouted.

"Just get me my usual. And whatever she's getting."

"Ah, can I just have a grilled cheese? And whatever soup you guys have today."

Mira nodded and she left the two of them to go make their meals. Natsu turned to Lucy, who was pouting as she twirled the straw around in her drink, and opened his mouth to ask her a question before she points her finger at him to be quiet.

"Why didn't you tell me we were going to Fairy Tail?"

Natsu just shrugged his shoulders, and she sighed as she took the straw into her mouth to take a sip of the lemonade.

"How's the lemonade taste?"

She scrunches up her nose, and pushes the lemonade aside.

"It doesn't taste right."

"What do you mean?"

"It just doesn't. I don't know, it just tastes funny."

Natsu stares at her as she squirms under his gaze, and she fumbles with the straw once again.

"You're weird Luce."

She huffs, and as she's smacking him they both hear a cough and turn to see Mira with their food.

"I hope I'm not interrupting something."

She smiles at them, and they glare at each other and Lucy sticks her tongue out at Natsu before turning to Mira to smile at her.

"Nothing at all. Is that our food?"

"Yup! I have a grilled cheese with our homemade chicken noodle soup. And for Natsu I have our insanely spicy chili with extra hot sauce. And our hottest wings."

She placed the food down in front of them, and Natsu could feel the drool coming from the side of his mouth. He was starving, but he waited for Lucy to at least try a bite of her food before he went savage on his. She sat there, picking the crust off her grilled cheese before she dunked it into the chicken noodle soup. Natsu stared at her like she was some sort of freak, and she just stared right back at him as she continued to eat.

"What?" She continued to dunk her crust into the chicken noodle soup before she actually tried a spoonful of the actual soup.

"You're so weird! Who even does that?" Natsu stared at her in horror as she dipped the gooey center of her grilled cheese into the broth and she shrugged.

"I do. I've done it since I was a kid. My mother did it so I would eat the crust."

Natsu just glared at her as he slowly took a bite of his chili, but as he took another bite the glare dissolved into a look of sheer bliss. He quickly devoured his chili and went straight for the wings soon after. Lucy stared at him as he practically swallowed his food whole.

"And you thought I was weird? What are YOU doing?"

"Eatin'."

"That's not eating. That's swallowing."

"Wha you talkin' bout?"

Lucy just sighed and went back to eating her soup, which actually tasted pretty good, and sat back once she finished her meal. She turned to Natsu to find him gone, once again, and she huffed in aggravation.

"Where'd Natsu go?"

Lucy looked up to see Mira grabbing their plates and bowls, and Lucy just shrugged.

"I really have no idea. This is the second time tonight!"

Mira smiles softly at Lucy.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he had a reason this time."

Lucy sighed, for the umpteenth time tonight, and watched as Mira walked off with their dishes. She sat in her chair, kicking her legs back and forth as she waited for her pink haired friend to come back. He did have to pay after all.

"Hey, Luce. We gotta go."

Lucy looked behind her to see an agitated Natsu, a hand tugging at his scarf as he walked towards her.

"What's up Natsu?"

He pulled out some cash, which she hoped was more than enough for their food, and he grabbed her wrist to tug her outside.

"It's a long story, but it'll be easier to talk outside."

He frowned as he weaved his way through all the people. He was having a lot of fun before he got a phone call from work. Once they reached outside, he stopped and adjusted his scarf.

"I got called into work. Something happened and the kid there got sick."

"Sick? How is he sick?"

"There was a bar fight or something like that. The kid doesn't like blood, he gets queasy."

Lucy holds back a laugh and Natsu cracks a smile. It was an odd thing to get sick over, especially as a guy. They were supposed to be tough, right? Natsu led them back to Love and Lucky, and the two walked comfortably in silence. Natsu could tell that Lucy was a little ticked off, but he didn't want to annoy her more. He did take her away from a free dinner to his work. She didn't have to come, actually.

"You know you don't have to come right?" He turns to look at her, and she just stares at him blankly.

"I completely forgot about that actually." She smiles sheepishly at him, and she chuckles at his expression. He just sighed after a while and they continued on their way to the bar.

"So why are you coming then?"

"I have nothing else to do."

"It's getting late, shouldn't you shower or something?"

"Are you saying that I smell?!"

"N-no, isn't it something that girls do?"

"It is, but some take offense. Be careful next time."

Natsu huffs, and he crosses his arm tightly across his chest. Women were way too complicated, and they hurt his brain. A lot. It felt like it took a lot longer to get to the bar than it needed to get to the bar. And the silence between the two of them was getting uncomfortable.

"So."

"So."

"What do you do after classes?"

"I work at a coffee shop. Or I write. Or I'll do ballet or some sort of dancing."

"Yeah, you do weird stuff."

"I do not!"

He laughed when he saw her pout, and she pouted even more. He liked talking with Lucy, it wasn't hard and he didn't need to put in much effort either. It made the time pass by much faster too.

"So are you a freshman? Or are you a sophomore?"

Natsu looked to her when she asked her question, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Actually, I don't know."

Lucy stopped and slowly turned her head to Natsu, and she just stared at him blankly.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Well, I do know. I just tend to forget. I'm a freshman."

She just slowly shook her head, and she turned away from him to keep walking to the bar.

"I'm pretty sure it's because of the fighting that you do."

"It is not!"

"How many concussions have you had?"

"Not that many."

"How many?"

"3? Maybe?"

"Yeah, that's way too many."

Natsu sighed and he sped up to catch up with her angry stride. Once again, women were weird. Thankfully, they were almost to the bar.

"Why were you called in?"

"Because they only needed someone for an hour and I was available. Sort of."

He saw Lucy nod, and they continued their walk in silence. When they were in sight of the bar, they noticed a police car and an ambulance sitting out front and the two of them turned to each other.

"Did they tell you what happened?" Lucy watched as Natsu shook his head.

"I'm gonna guess it was a bar fight though. The kid working gets sick at the sight of blood."

Lucy coughs away a laugh, and she tucks her hair behind her ear. He snickers slightly at the thought of the kid being green while trying to stop the fight.

"Shall we?"

Natsu nods and watches as she takes the lead. Her stride was one of confidence and he laughed as her braid swung back and forth. Thankfully she didn't hear him as she had managed to get to the door before him.

Once they were in the bar, they saw a small group of people surrounding two men. They were both sitting on the floor with their hands cuffed, and a lot of blood on their faces and clothes. Natsu looked around for the kid and saw him as far away from the scene as he possibly could be. He was talking to the police officer, and he looked like he had puked a few times already. Natsu took his scarf off and folded it in his hands before he took a glance at Lucy, who was still trying to take the whole scene in. He walked over to the kid, and the police officer greeted him.

"You're the one coming in?"

"Only for an hour, they have someone else coming in."

The police officer nodded and went back to asking the kid questions. Natsu gave the kid a pat on the back, placing his scarf in a safe place before he went to the bar top to fill everyone's orders. He spotted Lucy sitting on the side, where she was far from the fight scene, and he chuckled at her expression. She looked horrified, and she clenched the bottom of her shirt tightly. After he finished making everyone their drinks, he headed over to her.

"Don't like blood?"

"I can handle the blood. It's the fact that men fight for fun."

"Nah. I'm sure there was a reason."

"No. I listened in. They just fought."

Natsu turned to see the two men leaving the bar, and he noticed that the kid had come back behind the bar.

"Thanks for coming in Natsu."

"It's not a problem. It's always great to see you turn green kid."

The boy's face flushed, and Lucy sighed.

"Don't mind him. I'm Lucy!" She smiled at the poor kid, and he gave her a weak smile back.

"I'm Tyler. It would be nice to meet you if I didn't feel like crap."

Lucy smiles, probably in sympathy if you had to ask Natsu, and she looked to Natsu.

"I want a lemonade. And make sure it tastes good."

"You're demanding, you know that?"

She smiles cheekily at him before he leaves to make her lemonade. When he comes back, she notices he doesn't have his scarf on.

"Why can't you wear your scarf when you work?"

"I almost caught it on fire when I was doing a flaming drink and the boss said that I couldn't wear it when I'm making drinks."

Lucy laughed, and she covered her face with her hand. Natsu just huffed at her, holding her drink away from her. She realized this and stood up to snatch it from him and took a sip, sighing in content. She looks back up at him when he snickers.

"How do you almost catch your scarf on fire?"

"I was leaning over the drinks, and it almost caught fire. It happens."

Lucy shook her head in disbelief, and she went back to sipping on her lemonade. They had 20 more minutes before another person would come in, and it was getting late for his blonde friend. He could see her rubbing her eyes, and the few yawns she tried to hide behind her hand. Natsu filled up a few more drinks as the people came up, but he mainly did some busy work. Wiped a few glasses down. Cleaned the countertops a little. He didn't get to talk to Lucy all that much as someone would come up before he could go back to talk to her. He was sure she didn't mind, she seemed to be enjoying her lemonade and whatever was on her phone.

Thankfully, the 20 minutes passed by quickly and the other person came in for the rest of the shift. He hadn't met the girl before, but she looked pretty nice. Someone who wasn't a bitch. Not like, pretty. Girls were weird.

"Luce, let's get going. You look tired."

She lifted her head from the counter, and rubbed her eyes.

"Sorry, I got tired. It's been a busy day today."

"It's okay. I'll walk you home."

He walked around the counter top to her and grabbed his scarf from the little hiding spot he had. She hopped off the bar stool and stretched, and he caught a peek of her skin on her belly. He felt his heart rate speed up but he ignored it.

"You ready?"

"Yup, let's go. I still need to shower."

"Yeah, you smell."

Lucy smacked him hard on the shoulder and he just snickers.

"Ow. That hurt so much."

He laughed as she continued to smack him as they left the bar, and she finally stopped when her hands got tired.

"How does that not hurt you?"

"I'm in MMA, I'm used to the pain by now."

Her mouth made this small 'o' and he grinned at her. The two walked, once again in silence, until he realized that Lucy wasn't next to him anymore.

"Have you ever thought about the stars?"

"Not really."

He turns to see her looking up at the stars, her arms wrapped around herself. He didn't realize how chilly it was, and he wished he had some sort of jacket in his gym bag.

"They're so far away, but you can always see them. No matter what."

He watched as she smiled softly at the night sky, and he walked over to her.

"Why do you like the stars so much?"

"My mother taught me all about them, so it's something I hold dear to myself."

Natsu hummed a quite reply and they stood there for a little bit as they looked up at the stars before Lucy started walking back to her apartment. He followed her, holding their gym bags. He faintly heard her humming something, and he turned to see her walking with her eyes closed.

"You sure you aren't going to fall over?"

She opened one eye, and she smirked at him.

"You'll catch me if I fall. So I'm okay."

His face turned a slight pink, and he looked away from her and concentrated on walking back to her apartment.

"How can you trust me to catch you?"

"It's not really trust, but you did say you were in MMA. So you have faster reaction time than most people."

He laughed at her comment and they went back to walking in silence before he felt the need to ask her questions.

"What are you studying?"

She turned to see him faced away from her, but she answered him anyway.

"I'm majoring in English, but I'm trying to find a way to minor in astrology as well. But my adviser doesn't think it's necessary. What about you Natsu?"

Natsu stays quiet, and he realizes she's stopped walking. They've reached her apartment faster than he wanted to.

"I don't know. I'm currently undecided."

"Why?"

"I just haven't found something that I like doing."

"Hm. You'll figure it out eventually."

He nods, and he walks her to the entrance of the apartment complex. She stops, and he just stands there staring at him.

"I do need my bag back Natsu."

He mentally slaps himself, and he hands her bag back to her.

"S-sorry. It's so light I didn't really realize I was carrying it."

She laughs at him, and holds her bag in front of her with both hands.

"Thanks, for a weird night. But I had fun. And the food was good."

He grins at her, and he rubs the back of his neck with his hand in embarrassment.

"Sorry we had to leave so soon."

"Oh no, it's totally okay! I had fun either way."

The two of them stood there awkwardly at the entrance before Natsu decided he would be the one to leave.

"Anyway! Good night Luce."

"Night Natsu."

He turns and heads back to his dorm room, the silence of the night bothering him just slightly. He decided it would just be better if he jogged back to his room, it would make it the silence less bothersome. When Natsu arrived at his room, he dropped his gym back on the floor and maneuvered around the mess of clothes he had before flopping on his bed.

"Happy."

He waited for the cat to respond, but he didn't hear anything. He quickly sat up from his bed and looked around.

"Happy?"

He waited again for a response, but nothing came. Natsu slapped his forehead when he realized where the cat was.

"Shit. He's still at Lucy's place."

Natsu quickly changes his clothes into something more comfortable, sweats and a long sleeve shirt, before he heads out to Lucy's apartment. Thankfully, he's still pretty stretched from his jog so he decides to run to her apartment. Going to his dorm and back to her apartment did take a few hours, so he was assuming she was asleep by now. Taking the chance, he started climbing the wall to her window and gently pushed on it.

Surprisingly, it was still unlocked.

Hopefully he wasn't going to be killed. He pushed the window open the rest of the way, and gently climbed in. He stood on the windowsill and jumped over her bed and landed quietly on the floor next to her bed. He turned to see her chattering her teeth, to his annoyance, and Happy sleeping at the foot of her bed. He tried his best to lean over her bed to close the windows, but it didn't exactly work. He climbed on her bed, quiet as he could possibly be, and shut the windows all the way.

He sat on her bed, listening to her chatter her teeth before he decided he was going to sleep in her bed.

Again.

It was only because she was cold. And her blanket wasn't doing anything to help her.

And he was tired. He didn't really want to have to run all the way back to his dorm. Her bed was way more comfortable than his anyway. He slid under her blanket and slept with his back to her, but he eventually heard the chattering stop once his heat spread to her. He lay there, trying to listen to her breathing and eventually fell asleep.

He'll deal with the consequences the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you guys look forward to the Halloween Special! And just so you know, it won't be following this timeline. It'll be when everyone has met. I'll let you know who will be paired with who and if there are any couples! So think of it like an OVA. ^^


	9. Halloween Special!~

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's a Halloween Special for Bubblegum and Lemonade! Just so you know, I've made just this chapter set for when they already know everyone. So the pairings are all there! But the only ones that are actual couples are Levy and Gajeel, as well as Erza and Jellal. Happy Halloween!

Natsu told Lucy that she was supposed to be ready by 5 o'clock.

And it's now 5:30.

And he's sitting in her living room as she runs around trying to find last minute things for her costume.

Natsu is very much annoyed. Were all women like this? Taking foooorrrreeevver to get ready? He huffed as he crossed his arms across his chest in aggravation. He had his costume on in less than 30 minutes. It wasn't all that much really too. He dressed up as a vampire this year, and he thought he looked really cool. He really wanted to put Happy in a bat costume, but his blue fur made it look weird. A blue cat with black wings? Maybe something different next year.

As Natsu continued to wait for Lucy, he stood up and stretched. He let the cape he was wearing straighten out, he didn't want there to be too many wrinkles in it before they even went to the party. He decided he would walk around her apartment until she was done frantically running around. He never did get a good chance to look through all of her stuff when he would break it. He typically just slept there, and occasionally ate breakfast. He was curious as to what stuff she liked to hide in her apartment.

He found a bookcase, but he only saw some really boring titles there. Lucy had way too many books, and it didn't really interest him that much. What he did find closer to her room did interest him. She had left her underwear draw open, at least he thought it was her underwear drawer, and he spotted a smaller pink book sticking out of it. He grabbed it and started flipping through the pages.

It looked like a diary of sorts, and he spotted a page with only one sentence written on it.

What do I do?

Natsu flipped back a few pages, but he didn't find anything that would relate to it. Just how her days went, how she missed her mother, and the other small things in life. He couldn't find anything that would relate to that one little question. He huffed in frustration and slammed the book back into his spot, just as Lucy came into her room.

"Natsu!"

He turned to her with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"What?"

"I told you you had to be Tuxedo Mask!"

Natsu scoffed, and he crossed his arms across his chest. He knew what he was supposed to be, but that was a dumb idea.

"Tuxedo Mask is stupid! A vampire is much cooler!"

"We're supposed to match!"

"Says who?"

"You did! You said as best friends you wanted to match costumes!"

"Yeah, but I didn't want to be some dude in a mask and tux!"

"Well you were all ears for my Sailor Moon costume!"

"Because you look good in it!"

"Well then you should have complained!"

"I diiiiiid. You just didn't listen!"

"You never once said anything about not wanting to!"

Natsu turned on his heel and he looked away from Lucy, angry with her for her stupid diary and her stupid idea.

"Maybe I should have just done a costume with Lisanna."

He heard Lucy gasp, and he turned just enough to see her holding a hand to her chest. He didn't realize that she had finally finished putting on her costume, and she looked stunning in it. She fit the dress perfectly, and her hair looked too cute for her sad face.

"I-if that's how you feel then fine!"

Natsu watches as she storms away in her red heels, and he swore he heard some sniffling coming from her as she rushed out the door. He cursed under his breath and stormed out after her calling her name. Once Natsu made it out the door, he noticed that she had ran a fairly far distance. And in heels. Damn woman.

He slammed his fist into the wall next to him before going after her.

"LUCY!"

He sprinted after her, but she just as fast as she could in heels. Which was scary fast.

"Lucy come on! I'm sorry! I didn't mean what I said!"

"Go away Natsu! I hate you!"

Natsu stops in his tracks when he hears what she says, and watches as she runs away. He stands there in shock, his hands clenching and unclenching in anger.

"S-she... hates me?"

Natsu clenches his fists tightly, nearly drawing blood, and he curses loudly.

"Fuck! God dammit!"

Natsu stands there in defeat, his shoulder slumped, before he heard his phone ding.

5:55 Lisanna- Hey! :) Where u at?

5:55 Natsu- i got caught up. b there soon.

Natsu stared at his phone, and he sighed. He'd have to make it up to Lucy somehow but staring at his phone wasn't going to help him so he made his way to Fairy Tail.

When Natsu finally arrived at Fairy Tail, he tried looking for the familiar blonde hair but couldn't see it through the crowd of people there. Halloween was one of the biggest holidays at Fairy Tail, and it got pretty crazy every year. This year seemed like there were more people, but thankfully Natsu could see a few familiar faces. He felt his phone buzz and he pulled his out to check who texted him. He didn't realize that he actually had 5 texts. Which couldn't be good.

6:00 Demon Lady- What did you do to Lucy?

6:02 Levy- Why is Lucy drinking? She never drinks! What did you do Natsu!?

6:02 Ice Princess- Lucy's drinking. Better have a good reason for this Flame Idiot.

6:05 Lisanna- Are you here yet? :)

6:10 Lisanna- I see you! Come to the arcade!

Natsu sighed heavily, and he looked up to see Lisanna waving from where the arcade was. She looked like she had these cat ears on, and he spotted her brother in some weird wolverine outfit. He waved to them before he went to the crowd of people.

6:12 Natsu to group- we fought. ill talk to her.

Natsu slipped his phone into his pocket and he was suddenly pulled back by the hood of his cape.

"What the fuck?!"

Natsu looked back to see Erza and Gray standing there with a death glare directed just at him.

"So Natsu, what did you two fight about?"

"Yeah? Something that would make Lucy, a person who only ever drinks lemonade, to drink an actual alcoholic drink?"

Natsu tried to shrink away from them, but Erza's grasp on his cape tightened and she jerked him closer to her and Gray.

"Talk. Natsu."

Natsu gulped, and he motioned at his neck. The cape was slightly choking him.

"C-can we talk somewhere other than this crowd?"

Gray and Erza looked at each other before grabbing him by his arms and pulling him outside. Once they were outside, Natsu was finally able to breathe.

"Now talk Natsu. What did you do to Lucy?"

Natsu looked up to see Erza standing dangerously close in some weird prince outfit. He wanted to laugh, but the look on her face said he'd be dead if he even tried.

"It's not a big deal. She wanted to do a costume together, but I changed to this vampire one."

"That can't be all. She would have been fine with it. What did you do?"

Natsu turned to Gray, who looked like he was wearing a black cloak and something else, and scoffed at the man.

"What are you supposed to even be?"

"I'm a wizard from Harry Potter. Now answer the question!"

"That's it!"

"No it's not."

Natsu turned to the new voice and saw Levy in a red cape and carrying a basket. He had to guess she was Red Riding Hood.

"Natsu said he should have done a costume with Lisanna instead."

Everyone turned to Natsu with their fists raised and he shrunk back.

"It's not my fault! She got all defensive about it!"

"But you shouldn't say things like that Natsu! Lucy is actually hurt about it!" Levy yelled at him, and he shrunk back in fear of the petite woman.

"So?"

"So go fix the problem!" Levy pushed Natsu towards the door, and he stumbled over his cape. He turned to curse at Levy but he saw everyone's glare and he huffed as he cursed under his breath.

"Fine. I'll go talk to her."

He pushed the door open to Fairy Tail to find it even busier than it was just 10 minutes ago. Which had to be impossible. It was difficult even getting passed the doors. As he finally made it past the entrance, he felt his phone buzz again.

6:30 Lisanna- Where'd you go? :(

6:30 Natsu- i caught up with friends. b there in a bit.

Natsu put his phone on silent before he went to the bar to find his blonde friend. He was hoping that she wasn't too drunk. He finally spotted her at the corner of the bar, and Mira Jane waved him over to her.

"Natsu!"

He jogged up to her, and she gave him a worried look.

"What happened to Lucy?"

"We fought. Is she doing okay?"

Mira nodded, and she smirked slightly.

"I've only been giving her really light stuff, but she's a light weight so she's a little tipsy."

"Thanks Mira."

Natsu walked over to Lucy to see her nursing an orange drink, he had to assume it was some weird concoction that Mira made just for Lucy.

"Luce."

She ignored him and kept her mouth on the straw as she slowly drank. He could see her eyes were still red and puffy, and he was pretty sure she had reapplied makeup on her face. He saw the smudges of black just slightly in the corner of her eye and he sighed. /

"Luce, don't ignore me."

"Why shouldn't I?" Her words slurred slightly, and she tilted her head towards him, the straw still in her mouth.

"Because. I'm trying to apologize."

"Liar."

"Luce, stop drinking that." He snatches the drink from her as he ignored her protests. She slumped in her seat, and he rolled his eyes.

"Lucy, I'm trying to apologize. Will you at least listen?"

He waited for her to respond, but she never gave him anything so he sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry I said something so mean. I shouldn't a' gone that far."

"Damn right you're sorry."

He looked to her and saw anger flame up in her brown eyes, and he shrunk back slightly. He'd only ever seen her mad like this once before, when they first met, and he didn't enjoy what had happened afterwards.

"I'm your bes' friend Natsu. Not Lisanna." Natsu watched as she lifted her head up, and she poked him in the chest angrily.

"You promised to dress up with me, and you're gonna stick with me tonight. You don't get to hang out with anyone else, because it's only the only way you'll make it up to me."

He watched as she slowly sobered up as she continued to angrily poke him in the chest, which was beginning to hurt. He nodded his head quickly as he held his hands up.

"Y-you got it. I really am sorry Lucy. I'll even go get a mask to be that mask man from whatever."

"IT'S TUXEDO MASK!"

He shrunk back when she yelled at him, and he realized she was nearly sober. Apparently if she didn't keep drinking she wouldn't be as tipsy.

"S-sorry."

Mira Jane came over to the arguing couple, and she took the drink from Natsu's hand.

"So, I see you've made up now?"

Lucy huffed as she put her arms tightly across her chest.

"Kind of. Natsu, if you can tell me what I am, then we'll be okay."

Natsu just stares at her, and he could feel the sweat dripping down his forehead. He knew what she was, he remembered it dealt with the moon and shit. What the hell was she?

"You're cute?"

"Well yes, but what am I actually?"

"Sailor... Sailor..."

Lucy stared at him, and he could see Mira making a big circle with her hands just out of Lucy's sight.

"Sailor... Moon?"

He could hear a sigh of relief come from Mira, and he grinned when he saw Lucy smile slightly.

"Good job. Now make me a drink, after all the headache you've caused me I'm going to need more."

"So you know you're sober?"

"Well yeah, Mira was putting in only half shots into my drink. It didn't taste very good. Too... bland."

"Well it was just orange juice and some other stuff." They both looked to Mira, who had a sheepish smile on her face. "S-sorry! I just didn't want you getting drunk Lucy!"

Lucy sighed, and she smiled at Mira.

"Thanks actually. I don't know how I would have been if I did get drunk."

"Well we are tonight!"

Lucy stares at Natsu in exasperation, and he just grins this shit eating grin at her.

"What? You were going to be a sad drunk, but the drink I'm going to make you won't make you sad at all!"

Natsu looks to Mira and she shrugs as she walks away to help other patrons. He hops quickly over the tabletop while Lucy just stares at him in awe. He looked pretty badass jumping over it with his cape trailing behind him.

"So I figured out a drink that you'd like, since you only drink lemonade."

Lucy looked at him with question in her brown eyes as he just grinned at her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll like it!"

She watches as he disappears for a few seconds and comes back with a handful of ingredients, and she just sits back and watches him mix. It was honestly hilarious watching Natsu mix a drink in his vampire outfit. She giggled and he looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Do you want a burnt drink?"

"Burnt?"

Natsu just sighs and continues mixing her drink. It barely took a few minutes, but he slid it to her.

Lucy stared at the drink which looked strangely like summertime. He had put it in a mason jar, and it shimmered like it was made with sunlight. He had garnished it with a honey stick, which she assumed she was supposed to use to drink with.

"What is in it?"

"All your favorite stuff! Lemonade, spiced rum, a little bit of honey and an actual honey stick! You drink it with the honey stick. It'll taste way better that way."

She stared at him in awe. How he was able to figure a drink out like this amazed her.

"What's it called?"

"I just call it Spiced Lemonade."

"You don't have a fancy name for it?"

Natsu tilts his head at her, and he just waves her hand in dismissal.

"Never mind. Are you going to drink anything?"

"Yeah! I'm waiting for Gray to get here. He and I have these drinks we do together."

He pulled out his phone, ignoring the several texts he knew he had and sent Gray a text for him to come to the bar. He glanced over to Lucy, who was just staring at her drink in awe and poked her face.

"Go ahead and try it! If you don't like it, I have something else for you."

Lucy took a tentative sip from the straw, and was surprised when it wasn't super sweet, but she didn't even taste the alcohol at all.

"Natsu! This is awesome!"

Natsu just grinned at her, and he bowed a couple times to her. She laughed, and she took another sip of the honey lemonade mixture she was slowly enjoying. She heard familiar voices approaching and noticed that everyone was matching with their partners. Gray had a soft smile as he looked at Juvia in her black cloak. If she remembered right, they were from Harry Potter. It suited the two of them, and she waved at Juvia who smiled back at her in return.

She spotted Levy and Gajeel not too far behind, and noticed that they were something from a fairy tale. Levy had a red cape on with a basket tucked under her arm, while Gajeel looked like, well a wolf.

Next to Levy was... Erza? Or was that just someone with the same hair color… Ah no, that was definitely Erza. She and Jellal were doing a prince and princess costume, but Erza was the prince. And Jellal was in a dress. With a wig. A very long one for that fact.

Lucy couldn't help but start laughing at the scene, and Natsu turned to where she was looking before he started laughing as well. Everyone turned behind them and finally noticed that the couple had switched up their costumes. Jellal stood there, fidgeting under everyone's gaze as he looked to Erza who just stood there tall and proud. He sighed and continued to be humiliated as he stood there in a dress and wig.

"W-why are you two switched?" Lucy tried not to laugh at the pair, but she couldn't help it. She always thought that Erza was weird, but to be the prince? She snickered even more as she thought harder about it.

"I lost a bet to Erza. So she said this was my punishment."

"And it's a good punishment! But I look very good right now."

Everyone sighed as they heard Erza compliment herself. They heard an 'ahem' come from behind them and they all turned around to see Natsu holding several bottles of an assortment of alcohol.

"We're here to party, so let's get started!"

Lucy heard everyone cheer behind her and she raised her glass to the air in excitement. She's never done something like this before, but dammit it felt good.

"Lu-chan!"

Lucy turned to Levy, who still had her red hood up, and the two of them hugged.

"I love your costume Levy! It definitely suits you!"

"Aw, thanks! You make a really great Sailor Moon."

Lucy blushed at the compliment as she tugged at her skirt.

"T-thanks. Natsu and I were supposed to match, but he ended up going as a vampire."

"Well it still suits him, and I think you two still match. Somehow."

The two girls giggled, turning to watch Natsu serve up their drinks. He had set up a row of shot glasses, but each of them had different contents.

"Alrighty! Let's start with a shot for Miss Levy here."

Levy shouted out a 'whoop' and she got closer to the bar top as Natsu pushed forward a shot glass that looked perfectly layered with blue, yellow and white.

"I call this the Curious Confection!"

"What's in it?"

Levy pulled it too her, careful to not disturb the layers he had managed to make.

"The bottom layer that's yellow is crème de banana and orange vodka, the second layer is Malibu and the last layer is blue curacao. I think. Is that how I did them? Anyway! It'll taste good!"

Levy looked at it in awe, and she shook her head.

"There's no way I can drink this! It looks way to cool!"

"Do it or you're a pansy Levy!"

Levy turned to glare at the gruff voice who had said it, and the man just grinned at her.

"Gihi, sorry shrimp."

She huffed, taking the shot glass into her hand before she tapped it on the table and slammed it back. Everyone cheered, and she slammed the shot glass back upside down on the table.

"That was awesome Natsu! Definitely tasted great!"

Natsu grinned at her as he pushed forward another shot glass.

"This one is for Erza. I call it the Red Queen."

Inside the shot glass was a very tiny heart floating in a dark orange liquid.

"It's got citrus vodka, blood orange vodka and blood orange juice. I added the heart for fun."

Erza stepped forward, as she did the same motion that Levy did as well. She let out an 'ah' and she gently put the shot glass down the same way.

"That was excellent Natsu! Well done."

Natsu bowed his head while he pushed the next glass forward.

"This one is for Gajeel."

Gajeel stepped forward and stared at the glass.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

There was a regular beer glass with what looked like metal sticks holding up a shot of some white liquid above it.

"Oh right, so you knock the shot glass into the glass and chug that down. I call it the Warlord."

Gajeel grinned at the challenge and he slid the sticks aside so the shot glass would fall into the liquid. He followed the same motion as everyone else before him. Afterward he finished chugging it, he slammed the glass down hard.

"What the hell was that?"

"Sake, ginger liquor and hard cider. It's rough, right?"

"Damn right! Remind to drink that for my next shot."

Natsu just laughed, and he pushed the next two shot glasses forward.

"These are for the witches over there."

"I'm a wizard!"

"Whatever. Anyway this one," he pushes one to Juvia, "is called Rebel Royal."

Juvia oohed at the drink as she took it in her hands.

"Juvia thinks this is very pretty Natsu."

"It tastes even better! I made this one with white rum, blue curacao, midori, and pineapple juice. I put some edible sparkles at the bottom since I thought it suited you."

Juvia stared at the drink with awe, and she glanced over to Gray's drink.

"What's is Gray's drink?"

"Gray's is called Coldfront. It's got white chocolate liquor, vanilla vodka, peppermint schnapps and some milk."

"Oh, now that sounds like my kind of drink."

The couple did the same thing everyone did, and slammed the drinks back. They both grinned at each other and gave a thumbs up to Natsu.

"And for the princess."

Everyone laughed, and Jellal grumbled as he shuffled forward to take his shot.

"This is called Fair Maiden."

Everyone laughed even harder as the drink was pushed closer to him, and Jellal flipped them off as he took the glass and tossed it back.

"Actually, that was really good. What's in it?"

"I just put pineapple juice at the bottom and topped it with a little bit of blue curacao."

Jellal nodded, and he moved back to Erza.

"Natsu, what about your drink?" Lucy was slowly drinking her little honey thing away, and Natsu just grinned at her.

"I saved the best for last! Prepare for a show lady and gents!"

He held out a shot glass filled with blue and green liquid. He pulled out a lighter and lit the top of it on fire.

"I call this the Fire Dragon Roar."

Everyone gasped as he held the flaming drink up to his face and chugged it down. Thankfully, he knew a parlor trick where he blew out the flame before dunking it back. Shit hurts a lot when you actually swallow the flame. Everyone clapped when he slammed the glass down onto the table and he grinned, bowing in response to their clapping.

"What about bunny girl?"

Everyone turned to Lucy, who just held her hands up and she motioned at her drink.

"Natsu already made me one actually."

"Err, I made you one of these too."

Lucy turned to Natsu, her brown eyes wide with shock.

"Don't worry! I diluted it quite a bit. It's called Destiny Cooler."

She stares at the yellow drink and notices a small starfruit sticking on the side of the rim.

"Is that a star?"

"Yup! I thought you'd like that."

She stared at the drink when finally everyone stared to chant.

"Shot, shot, shot, shot, shot!"

She squirmed under everyone's chanting, so she looked to Natsu for guidance. He just shrugged, and started chanting with everyone else. With a sigh, she took the starfruit off the rim and held the glass up to her lips. She could smell no alcohol, but definitely a lot of pineapple juice. After not having the scent of alcohol there, she gained the confidence to slam the drink back.

But the burn she tasted wasn't one she enjoyed very well. She ended up coughing once she finally took the whole shot. There was definitely still a lot of alcohol in that drink after all.

But everyone cheered and patted Lucy on her back.

"And now the party can start! Whoever wants more of their drink I made, I can give you more!"

Everyone in the group pushed forward to have another shot, because who the hell didn't want to get drunk on Halloween?

-.-.-

Many more shots later, many more table dancing and many more group songs everyone had finally calmed down.

Natsu had managed to get a little tipsy, but he was worried about Lucy that night. He didn't stay behind the bar all night, and he was pretty sure she'd managed to get more shots than she could handle. Or that's what it looked like. She was a lightweight.

"Luce!"

She ignored him and continued dancing with Levy and Juvia on a table, which he was pretty sure was going to fall apart very soon if someone didn't step in. He walked over, but he was still pretty wobbly so he stumbled every once in a while.

"Luce, come on we need to get you home."

Lucy glanced at him and turned her body, and he swore it looked like she was going to jump right at him.

"Catch me Natsu!"

He knew she was going to jump.

"L-Lucy that's not a good idea."

She jumped at him before he could talk her out of it, and he rushed forward to catch her. The pair fell to the floor, and Lucy giggled at Natsu.

"My hero!"

Natsu grumbled from underneath her, and he pushed her off as she giggled even more. How many shots did she have?

"Yeah yeah, now come on. We should go home."

Lucy whined when Natsu got up, so she started rolling around on the ground. He huffed in annoyance and grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. She struggled, before she finally gave up.

"You're no fun Natsu."

"And you're a handful when you're drunk. Or a child. That's what you are right now."

"I am not." Her words slurred as she rest her head against this chest, and he sighed. She should be falling asleep soon. He walked around the passed out people in costumes, and he realized that Lucy was missing part of her costume. She'd be pretty upset the next morning, but the hangover is going to be way worse.

As he weaved his way through the crowd, he spotted Jellal and Erza cozying up in the corner and he looked away. He didn't want to know what was going to happen. He gagged at the thought of it and continued on his way out. He didn't see anyone else from the group, but he assumed they all were somewhere else in the bar. It was a pretty big bar as well.

Walking Lucy home was a hassle, he had lost his cape long ago and it was a pretty chilly night. He didn't feel cold, but he knew for sure that Lucy was shivering against him, so he held her closer to him. It was a long walk back to her apartment, so he decided he'd just go to his dorm. She could get over the mess in his room later.

When he finally reached his dorm room, he realized just how quiet it was. Apparently everyone was out partying or already asleep. He didn't even know what time it was, he just knew he wanted to get some sleep. And soon.

He decided to take the elevator up, and thank god Lucy was asleep. She would have been a pain in the ass to carry if she was awake and being a brat. He finally made it up to his room, and he suddenly realized that there was a bunch of clothes on his bed. He had to find a way to put them on the floor and keep Lucy in his arms. He tried his best to move his clothes off with his foot, but Lucy decided it was a great idea to squirm in his arms, and the two of them toppled to the ground. Natsu groaned when Lucy refused to get off his chest, and he pushed her off gently. He took a deep breath but started coughing when he felt pain in his ribs. He really hoped they were only bruised and not fractured.

"God, you're fat Lucy."

Lucy grumbled, and he swore he heard her say 'fuck you' in her little drunken state. He left her on the floor and quickly shoved his clothes aside. He lifted her off the floor and gently placed her on the bed. Her Sailor Moon cosplay outfit was a mess, and he knew she would have wanted it off when she went to bed. His face flushed when he realized that he would have to strip her. He'd seen her with less clothes on, but it was nerve wrecking actually removing her clothes.

It was going to be a long night.

Lucy awoke to a horrible headache, and she felt the need to puke. She tried to get up from the bed, but an arm was holding her down. She turned her head and saw tufts of pink in the corner of her eye. And she felt abnormal warmth on her waist. She looked down and realized that Natsu's arm was under the black shirt she was wearing and her face flushed. Her stomach felt like a churning storm, and her heart was beating faster and faster. She finally noticed she didn't recognize the room.

"NATSU!"

Natsu jumped up, scooting to the far end of the bed and he held his ears.

"Oh my god, woman please shut up!"

She winced when she sat up, her headache getting worse and she definitely needed to puke.

"What am I doing in your dorm room?"

"I was too tired to carry you all the way to your apartment. Do you not remember last night at all?"

She tried to recall something, but everything came up as a blank right after she took her first shot.

"No... But Natsu. I really need to puke."

Natsu's eyes went wide and he scrambled off the bed, in his shirtless glory, which Lucy tried to admire but she felt the contents of her stomach coming up fast. Natsu came back just in time with a wastebasket as she emptied her stomach into it, and he held her hair back as she continued her joyride on her hangover.

"S-sorry. This will be your first hangover huh?"

She flipped him off as she continued to puke into the basket, and he held her hair back as she emptied the rest of her stomach. He saw his phone on the top of the bed, and he remembered feeling it buzz multiple times last night. He was shocked it was still even on. Lucy finally finished puking, and he moved the wastebasket to the entrance of the room.

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault, I drank too much."

He nodded, grabbing his phone and he took the wastebasket to his bathroom to empty it. He came back to Lucy with Advil and water. She graciously took it, almost chugging the water before Natsu snatched it away from her.

"Sip it. You'll puke again if you chug it."

She nodded and did as he was told. He sighed and sat back down on the bed, checking his phone for texts.

8:06PM Lisanna- Hey, where did you go?

8:30PM Lisanna- I can see you with Lucy, did you not want to hang out?

9:40PM Ice Princess: It's a good thing you made up with Lucy, if not I would have kicked your ass.

9:58PM Demon Lady: Don't let Lucy drink too much.

10:30PM Levy: I'm glad you made up with Lucy! Be careful, she's a handful when she's drunk.

2:00AM Lisanna: Thnks 4 totes hnging out w me 2nite.

2:30AM Lisanna: I hope u had fun w lucy

2 Missed Calls from Lisanna

2:44 AM Lisanna: u owe me

He groaned in annoyance at the bombardment of texts, and he slid down onto the bed. Lucy looked over to him but blushed when she noticed that he was still shirtless before looking away.

"What's wrong Natsu?"

"Nothing, I just got a bunch of stuff to fix after last night."

Lucy nodded and looked down at her clothes. She wasn't wearing her outfit. Natsu stripped her last night. Natsu. Saw. Her. In. Her. Bra.

"I HATE YOU!"

She threw the water at his face, and he sat straight up again.

"What? What did I do?"

"You changed my clothes!"

"I had to! It was covered in booze and who knows what else!"

"W-we didn't do anything did we?"

Natsu's face flushed a bright shade of red and he looked at her, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to fish out an answer.

"W-we slept next to each other. But nothing else!"

Lucy put the glass on the floor and held her arms around her stomach, and Natsu sighed. His face was slowly going back to its original color and he pulled the sheets he had over her shoulders.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't of changed your clothes."

"I-it's okay. I'm glad I'm not in a booze covered Sailor Moon outfit."

She chuckled a little bit, and turned to him, her face still dusted pink.

"Sorry about throwing water at you. And yelling. I have a headache too."

Natsu grins at her, and he motions for her to lie down.

"Wanna get some more sleep then?"

She contemplated the idea before she lay her head down on the one pillow Natsu had on his bed. She heard Natsu sigh, and the bed sunk as he lay down next to her. He kept his distance from her, but she was freezing and she wanted to fall asleep faster. She moved in closer to him, and he froze up.

"I'm cold."

She heard him chuckle and he put an arm over her. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding and closed her eyes.

It wasn't long before the two hungover friends fell fast asleep.

Halloween, was one hell of a night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be safe this Halloween! I hope you enjoyed it. Lisanna and Natsu are just friends, just so you guys understand that part. Please review! I love hearing from you guys! 3
> 
> Happy Halloween! Enjoy your night.


	10. Ballet?

Natsu rolled over in his sleep, grabbing the closest thing to him and holding it close to his body as he snuggled into it. The object felt strangely squishy, and very soft. Which wasn't right.

Actually, hugging something didn't feel right. He didn't have anything in his bed that he could cuddle with. He groggily opened one eye and spotted blonde hair just below him. He followed to where his hand was and choked on his own spit.

His hand was resting on her stomach.

A small groan came from the woman he was holding close. He shot up from his spot on the bed and scooted far away from the woman, profanities streaming from his mouth.

He didn't remember cuddling up to Lucy last night, and he didn't want to know why he had done it at all. The two barely even knew each other.

He probably shouldn't have spent the night.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he attempted to get up from her bed. He needed to get Happy and go home before she even woke up.

But think of the devil at all, and it will awake. He heard grumbling from the woman and he stood there standing on her bed. He watched as she stirred, a hand going to rub the sleep out of her eyes. He held his breath, itching to get off her bed and run away. She opened one eye and spotted him standing above her. He watched as the emotions on her face went from sleepy to surprise to straight fury. She let out a screech and he covered his ears as he hopped off her bed. She quickly threw the covers off of her and dove after him.

"NASTU!"

He turned his head and saw her dive after him, and they fell to the ground with a loud thump.

"I told you to never sleep here again!"

"No you didn't."

"I did too!"

Natsu rolls his eyes and attempts to roll Lucy off of his back. She sat there, her arms crossed against her chest.

"I will not move until we can fight."

Natsu stares at the wall, he puts his hands on his head to shield from any incoming attacks she would do to him but he didn't feel anything.

"Come on Natsu, show me your MMA skills."

He swore he could hear sarcasm dripping from her voice and he rolled his eyes. He could easily beat her, but that wouldn't be fun.

"Lucy come on, let me go. I don't need to have more bruises because of you."

"This is punishment for you sleeping here again!"

He winced when she started hitting his back with her fists, and he bucked her off of his back. He heard her grunt as she fell to the ground and he quickly scrambled away from her. He heard her curse when he escaped from her grasp, and he crawled to the door as fast as he could.

"Natsu get back over here!"

"Hell no!"

"NATSU!"

He heard her running at him and he dared to turn his head to see her. He really didn't wanna see her angry. It was horrifying the first time.

"Lucy let me gooooo."

He finally reached the front door but he felt his scarf being tugged back.

"Luuucceee."

He turned his head and saw her angry glare directed at him and he gulped. He thought she looked angry last time, but this time she looked furious. Like she could easily take a few hundred men down in ten seconds flat.

"Don't. You. Luce. Me."

He ducked when she threw a punch to his head but he didn't get far because of his scarf being held back by Lucy. She scoffed and pulled his scarf harder. His head followed wherever she yanked the scarf, and he stared as her knee came up to hit his head. He quickly pushed her leg away, maybe a bit too hard, and watched in horror as she fell to the ground. Again. With him following suit.

"Lucy please stop!"

The two rolled around on the ground, Natsu blocking her feeble attempts to hit him.

But she managed to get lucky and landed a stray kick to his groin.

And he screamed in pain. And she started yelling too before she got off the floor.

"OhmygoshNatsuI'msorry!"

Natsu groaned on the floor, holding his stomach and groin in pain.

"You didn't have to kick so hard."

Natsu felt like he was going to puke. And die. And puke again. He was never going to have kids now because of her.

"I'm sorry Natsu it just happened! I didn't mean to."

She stood above him, fretting about as he rolled around in pain. She didn't know what to do, she's never had to deal with this before. She winced when he got up but ended up groaning in pain.

"I feel like I'm going to puke."

"Don't puke on my floor!"

"Well you shouldn't have KICKED me in the GROIN!"

"It's your fault for spending the night again!"

"I don't deserve to get kicked there though!"

Lucy huffed in annoyance and she ran a hand through her messy hair. She did feel bad for kneeing him in his groin, but she was still really upset about him sleeping over again. And holding her inappropriately. She turned to glare at the man writhing in pain but she just huffed again. The kick should be enough punishment for now.

"I'm sorry, okay? But you sort of deserved that."

He turned his head up to her to glare at her but the sudden movement hurt his lower area slightly and he winced.

"Shut up. You owe me for hurting me this much. Like I feel like dying Lucy."

"Fine."

"No, seriously you have to-.."

He looked up at her again and noticed she had this smug look on her face. Why the hell would she look smug?

"Did you say fine?"

"Yeah. I mean I caused you pain, that was the whole point but I didn't mean to cause that much really."

Natsu leaps up from his spot on the floor and crushes her into his arms.

"Thank you! I want to do something today! You owe me that much."

"Okay, but I have practice."

"We can hang out at Fairy Tail, and play games and eat Mira's food."

"I have practice Natsu."

"And then you ca-.. Practice?"

"Yeah, I have ballet practice today."

"Let me watch!"

Lucy shrinks back at his excitement, pushing herself away from his tight grip. She wasn't ready for his sudden mood swing from hurt to excite. Someone shouldn't be doing that after being kicked in the groin.

"I thought you wanted me to go to Fairy Tail with you?"

Natsu shrugs, and he stretches his arms, wincing at the pain still lingering.

"Well you have practice, and it's only noon. It's not like we don't have all day."

Lucy sighs and she turns away from the boy. She needs to get ready if it's noon already. Her practice is typically at 1, and her teacher doesn't like anyone being a minute late. She heads to her bedroom to get her clothes set and get ready for the day. She felt like it was going to be one long day.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Natsu was running after a frantic blonde, screaming at her to slow down.

"I don't have time for this Natsu! I'm going to be late!"

"You almost forgot your bag though!"

"It's your fault I almost forgot it!"

She ran back to him and snatched it from his outstretched hand and sprinted towards the gym.

"I can't believe I'm going to be late!"

"You won't be late! You have like 10 minutes still."

"It takes me ten minutes to even get ready!"

Natsu rolls his eyes and jogs after her. It honestly wasn't his fault she might be late. She was the one that ended up taking forever to get everything ready. She just had to try and fight him one more time because she thought he was peeking at her. Which he wasn't. That's just weird. Like Lucy.

He could hear her cursing as she ran towards the gym. He wasn't too far behind her, but he watched as she entered into the building before he could make it close enough.

As he entered the building, he could hear a woman screaming somewhere down the hall. He followed the yelling and stopped when he saw Lucy standing there with some exercise clothes on and her head bowed down low. He didn't think that she was literally going to be yelled at. He quietly stepped through the door and sat in the back of the dance studio to watch her practice. The instructor continued to yell at the poor blonde before they started the actual classes. Natsu felt the need to run away when the instructor turned her head towards him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I-I'm here to watch."

"Oh?"

"A-aye."

The woman turns to her students and clicks her tongue at them and they all shuffle towards her.

"We have a guest, so I expect you to do your utmost best. Imagine this to be a true concert."

"Yes madam."

They all returned to their positions near the mirror. He spotted Lucy in the far corner doing her stretches.

Which looked like she was trying to rip her body in half.

On purpose.

He stared in horror at her stretching, watching as she brought her leg up to her chest with the other on the floor. He felt like gagging at the flexibility she had. It made him sick.

Because people should not be able to do that so easily.

He watched the girls dance for about an hour, and he honestly thought he was watching a Broadway kind of thing. If it's Broadway. After they finished their practice, he watched Lucy stand away from the girls and get her bag. He stood up to go say something to her but a girl with striking white hair stood in front of his way.

"Hi."

Natsu stares at the girl's bright blue eyes, curiosity and excitement easily spotted in them. Natsu takes a cautious step back from the girl.

"Uh… Hi."

"What brings you to a ballet practice? You don't look like the dancing type."

"I'm not the dancing type."

"Then why are you here?"

Natsu stares at the girl, crossing his arms across his chest. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but it was intriguing.

"I'm here to see my friend practice."

"Oh? Which one?"

The girl looks around and Natsu turns his gaze to Lucy, which the girl in front of him spotted.

"You're friends with Lucy!"

"H-how did you know?"

"I see you looking at her."

"Smart. But what do you want?"

"Well you're cute."

Natsu coughs, and he stares at her like she's insane.

"I-I'm sorry, what?"

"You're cute. And we don't really see cute here at the ballet practices all that often."

"O-oh."

"So I was wondering if we could exchange numbers?"

"S-sure?"

"Cool! I'm Lisanna by the way."

"Natsu."

"Nice to meet you Natsu."

She smiled at him, a very bright and contagious smile that he couldn't help but return. He watched as Lisanna pulled her phone out of her little pack and handed it to him.

"Go ahead and put your number in, I'll save it and stuff."

Natsu takes her phone from her hand and types in his number into her gold iPhone. He hands it back to her and she smiles, typing something into it and she tucks it away.

"Thanks Natsu!"

"Yeah."

"I'll text you sometime soon, okay?"

Natsu nods and spots Lucy walking towards them out of the corner of his eye. He waves goodbye to Lisanna, who waves back, and walks towards Lucy.

"Who was that?"

"Lisanna."

"Oh! She's very nice."

"Yeah. Nice."

Lucy stares at him, curious as to how the conversation ended up going. She hitches her bag higher up on her shoulder and motions to leave.

"Didn't you wanna go to Fairy Tail?"

She hears his stomach growl when he opens his mouth to reply and he grins sheepishly. She just smiles at him and motions for him to follow her.

"Let's grab a quick bite. I know a good place."

Natsu follows Lucy out of the little studio, weaving through the girls getting their things together.

"Can I say something?"

Lucy nods while she continues leading the way, and he puts his hands behind his head.

"Your dancing looks terrifying."

Lucy stops walking, turning just her head to stare at Natsu.

"What do you mean it's terrifying? It's a beautiful way to dance!"

"Your feet should not be pointing like that."

Lucy rolls her eyes, continuing on her way to the food she desired.

"It's not that bad. After a while you get used to it."

"There's no way you can 'get used to it'. Your feet have to hurt!"

"Not really."

"Yeah really."

"I've been doing this since I was 5 Natsu. It really doesn't hurt."

Natsu gapes at her, and she turns her head to see his mouth wide open.

"How else do you think I got a full ride scholarship?"

Natsu closes her mouth, crossing his arms across his chest. He pouted silently until he noticed a familiar shop.

"Hey! That's where Levy works!"

"You know Levy?"

"Yeah! She's a friend of mine."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we've known each other for a long time now. She's really nice."

Lucy hummed a little reply and they continued their trek in silence. It was a comfortable silence, and she didn't mind it at all. They walked along, and Lucy could see the small sign for the shop coming up soon.

She felt her stomach growl and started to walk faster, itching for a good snack from the shop. She heard Natsu huff when she sped up her walking and she smirked.

"I thought you were hungry?"

"Doesn't mean you gotta walk so fast!"

Lucy just laughs at the poor man and they entire the shop. Natsu hears the familiar greeting from a petite bluenette and he grins, waving to her.

"Levy!"

Levy looks up and sees Natsu and Lucy, and she smiles at the two.

"I'll be with you guys in a bit!"

Natsu nods and turns to talk to Lucy but she's already standing in front of the counter to order. Shes twirling a strand of hair on her finger and biting her lower lip in thought, and he hears this small thought in the back of his mind. Which he quickly ignores, his face a slight shade of pink. The two had only just started to know each other. With a quick shake of his head, he strides over to the blonde who is in deep thought and mumbling to herself.

"Should I get breakfast or should I just get a sandwich. Hmm, maybe I should get a salad."

Natsu snickers at her, and she turns her head towards him. She looked like she could tear him apart easily.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He coughs and looks up at the menu board, noticing that anything that was edible didn't exactly sound like something he would like. His face fell, and he went to stare at Levy. She continued to make drinks, ignoring the fact that he was very much so glaring at her.

"I know what I want now."

Natsu turns to Lucy, who has a grin on her face and she waves to Levy, who gladly walks over to her. Levy ignores Natsu's glares once again, and helps Lucy with her order. The two chat for a while, well aware that they're ignoring Natsu before they finally give up and let him have his chance to order. Natsu grumbles to himself after he's placed his order with Levy, turning on his heel to talk to Lucy who had disappeared once again. He finds her in the corner of the store sipping on some iced drink. Which he couldn't figure out how she got, Levy was way too busy to help them. He didn't want to think too hard on it, he was really hungry and really grumpy. He stumbled over to the table she was at and flopped onto the chair there.

"I'm hungry."

"Hi hungry."

Natsu glares at her, and Lucy just smirks at him as she takes another sip from her drink.

"How'd you get that?"

"I got it."

"But how?"

"Natsu you don't wanna question me right now."

Natsu huffs and places his forehead on his cool table, holding his grumbling stomach.

"I'm hungry."

"I've heard. Just a little bit longer okay? She's busy."

Natsu just huffs once more, rolling his head around on the table.

"I don't wanna wait!"

Lucy rolls her eyes at the pink haired man lying on the table. It wasn't that long of a wait, but he was apparently impatient. You learn new things every day.

"Look, I think I see her coming now!"

Natsu's head shoots up from the table and he instantly finds Levy bringing them a couple plates of food. He could feel his mouth watering with the thought of finally eating some food.

"Okay! I got the spicy grilled chicken sandwich for Natsu with some fries. And for Lucy I have a grilled Panini and a cup of soup."

Natsu's eyes trailed the food being placed in front of him, eager to just dig into his meal. He waited until Lucy had received her food before he went savage on his food. Lucy stared at him while he devoured his meal, slowly taking bites of her own as she continued to watch this horrendous sight.

"How do you do that?"

Natsu looks up at her mid bite, and he slows his roll.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean how are you eating something like that? It honestly looks horrible."

"Not really."

"You're getting food everywhere Natsu."

"And you're not eating. Are you going to eat that?"

Lucy brings her plates closer to her and sticks her tongue out at him.

"Back off this is mine!"

Natsu pouts, slouching in his seat as he picks at the crumbs on his plate while he waits for a slow blonde to finish her meal. After a few more minutes of him picking at his stuff, he hears a throat being cleared and he looks up to see Lucy standing.

"You ready?"

Natsu nods, grabbing their bags and he starts heading towards the exit. Lucy giggles and follows behind him, waving at Levy as they leave the building.

"Where to next?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry about the delay on this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, as weird as it was, but I'd love to hear from you guys! Thanks for keeping up, and see you next time.


	11. Fire Chicken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's always more fun together.

The pair decided that they'd go straight to Fairy Tail, despite the complaints coming from Lucy about wanting to go home and shower. Natsu would have to wait for hours, and he didn't want to wait anymore. He was still hungry and craving Mira's food. Don't get him wrong, the café's food was still really good, it just wasn't enough food. After walking for a bit longer, the two finally made it to Fairy Tail, in which Natsu grabs Lucy by the wrist and runs straight to the bar, and Mira. He grins when he sits down, staring at Mira until she comes over.

"Hey guys!"

Lucy grumbles a hello and slouches on the countertop while Natsu grins at Mira.

"Can I get fire chicken?"

Mira chuckles and nods, walking off to make his meal. Lucy huffs from her spot on the countertop, enjoying the coolness of it. She feels eyes on her and she turns her head to Natsu, who's blatantly staring at her head.

"Why are you just lying there?"

"Because I wanted to shower."

"You would have taken forever."

"No I wouldn't have!"

"Yeah you would've."

Lucy sticks her tongue out at him and turns her head away from him. She felt gross, and he was just teasing her now. She heard a plate being placed on the counter and the strong smell of just burning coming from it. She wrinkled her nose and put her head up, chin resting on the table.

"Mira."

Lucy whines to Mira, and the young woman walks over to the poor blonde girl slouched on the tabletop.

"Yes Lucy?"

"Tell Natsu he sucks."

"I do not suck!"

"Yeah you do!"

Mira rolls her eyes and walks away from the two bickering idiots, smirking to herself. She figured a new name for the two, and she knew many people who would like to know her plans.

"Natsu, hurry up. I'm bored."

"I've been done!"

Lucy snaps her head up and stares at the 3 empty plates sitting in front of him and he grins.

"Told you I was done."

"You ate enough for 3 people!"

"So?"

"So that's a lot Natsu!"

"Whatever weirdo."

Lucy huffs, for the umpteenth time today, and swivels away from Natsu.

"Oh come on. I know what'll cheer you up. Dancing."

Lucy turns her head slightly towards him, a pout evident on her face still.

"What do you mean by dancing?"

"Like DDR."

"DDR?"

Natsu's jaw drops and he just stares at her in shock.

"You don't know what DDR is?!"

Lucy winces at his yelling and she shrinks back from him.

"No I don't Natsu, why don't you explain it then?"

"It's probably one of the best games ever!"

Lucy rolls her eyes at his excitement. It tended to get out of hand a lot of the times.

"That hardly even explains it at all Natsu."

"It's easier to show you, come on."

He grabs her by the wrist and drags her away from the bar top despite her complaints.

"I can walk on my own Natsu!"

"Well you're taking your sweet time, I Wanna show you this!"

Lucy continued to be dragged by Natsu, no matter how hard she tried to keep up with unruly pace of 'walking'. Thankfully it wasn't too far of a walk to wherever it was Natsu wanted to show her. Natsu didn't seem like the type to like any type of dancing, so whatever this game is, it must be good. As they neared the entrance to the room she heard goofy noises coming from it. Little pings and quirky little noises she couldn't quite place.

"What is that noise?"

Natsu turns his head to her, a big grin on his face.

"That would be our arcade."

"Arcade? People still have those?"

Natsu pouts at Lucy's horrible sense of humor. At least he thought that was what it was.

"It'll be fun, come on. It's not that loud really."

Against Lucy's choice she was once again dragged around like a rag doll. The arcade was dimly lit, but all the types of machine's lights helped brighten up the place. And brighten it up it did. She'd never seen so many colors in one place at once, and it was a little overwhelming. The noises where frustrating. Constant pings and a couple blasts that didn't sound normal. Lucy knew that it was going to be a long night.

And a long night it was.

Lucy had won every single game of DDR, but barely. Natsu was strangely good at it, and they ended up playing the stupid game for 3 hours until he finally gave up. After finally spending half their afternoon in the arcade they went back to Fairy Tail, where Natsu ran into Gray and fought with him. Lucy, finding herself alone, went back to the bar top to Mira Jane and found another person chatting away with a woman in a bikini with a giant bottle of rum. Or, Lucy thought it was rum. Whatever it was, there were a lot of bottles around the girl.

She eventually learned her name, Cana if she remembered right, and Natsu ended up coming over to them and caused a drinking contest between the two. It took all night, as Lucy apparently ended up being the judge of who could handle their liquor.

It clearly wasn't Natsu, since he's passed out in Lucy's bathtub.

It was a long.

Long.

Night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry about how late this was! Expect more in the next few days!


End file.
